Climbing after rain

[John.k.moore]

Does anyone know where the weather station is? I was on top of the Western Front  at 1:00 on Tuesday and the wind felt like a lot more than 14 mph there.

Weather conditions for:
PINNACLES, CA (RAWS - MTR)
Elev: 1322 ft; Lat/Lon: 36.470750/-121.147280

^^ This is from the 3 day history page, it's in red text between the colored graph at the top and the charted data at the bottom. I can't be 100% sure but that location does correlate with a mountain top that Google Maps shows to have some gear on the summit.

[JC w KC redux]

Does anyone know where the weather station is? I was on top of the Western Front  at 1:00 on Tuesday and the wind felt like a lot more than 14 mph there.

It's over on the east side. If you go to the mesowest page and then find station information (under More Info) it brings up a little map with a locator (blue dot). I coordinated the locations between that map and Google Earth and put some pins and labels on the points in question. It's not that far as the crow flies but there are lots of ridges and valleys between the two and Soledad has winds generated from prevailing westerlies dropping over the Sierra de Salinas and across the Salinas Valley.
Topography, geography and meteorology. I still love this shit.

[JC w KC redux]

Weather conditions for:
PINNACLES, CA (RAWS - MTR)
Elev: 1322 ft; Lat/Lon: 36.470750/-121.147280

^^ This is from the 3 day history page, it's in red text between the colored graph at the top and the charted data at the bottom. I can't be 100% sure but that location does correlate with a mountain top that Google Maps shows to have some gear on the summit.

For some reason they give the lat/long coordinates as decimals instead of degrees, minutes and seconds. Coordinating the maps using features put my pin for the station at 36 28 12.52 and 121 08 52.73

EDIT; My pin for the station is slightly off. I figured out how to zoom in further on the mesowest map and I did confirm there is a station there (I can see the equipment). They show the coordinates as 36°28'14.7"N 121°08'50.2"W
derived from 36.470750, -121.147280

[looks easy from here]

Thanks. I figured it was probably on the more sheltered side of the park. We were trying to beat the wind to Eye Candy or hoping the alcove would be sheltered enough. We did not and it was not; the wind ripped straight down it from above. Still had a ball galavanting around an area I hadn't visited before.

[Gavin]

Sorry for not responding earlier. It has continued to be wet in the park for sure, and more on the way today and tomorrow. The creek drainages have recharged some and are flowing pretty well again. Daily high temps are still low (high 40s, then 50s later in the week), so I imagine cliffs will stay pretty wet for awhile.

As JC detailed, the main Pinnacles weather station is on the east side of the park, after the campground turnoff and before the road junction for Bear Gulch / Old Pinnacles trailhead. It is just before a fire road gate along the paved park road.

[JC w KC redux]

Thanks. I figured it was probably on the more sheltered side of the park. We were trying to beat the wind to Eye Candy or hoping the alcove would be sheltered enough. We did not and it was not; the wind ripped straight down it from above. Still had a ball galavanting around an area I hadn't visited before.

Glad you got up there to check it out.
Did you climb anything?

You got me curious about the wind that day. The weather was changing when we got up Tuesday and I could tell a front was definitely moving in. We had already been in the park for 3 days of great weather - so we packed up and left.
According to the gauge it was gusting to 27 at 1:37 and two hours later the gusts were registering 50! 

13:37   14   27
14:37   19   30
15:37   21   50

[looks easy from here]

Glad you got up there to check it out.
Did you climb anything?

We did not. I botched the approach, so we lost a half hour or so there. Then as soon as we cleared the ridge by Numbskull Needle we were able to see the front moving in over the next ridge to the west. It smacked us full on literally just in the last 100' of the approach. The wind gusting down the alcove was beating on the little tree at the base of Chubby Rain so hard we were watching it actively being uprooted. Didn't stick around long enough to see if it finished the job. But just for giggles we summited the Western Front in full storm conditions. The wind was strong and steady enough it was able to support me doing a Michael Jackson lean on it, and almost pushed me ass over teakettle more than once.

It definitely justified our gametime decision to NOT get on Old Original.