Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board climate zones

Hello, everyone.

I teach a physical geography course to high school students in Long Prairie, Minnesota. We are discussing climate zones, specifically the Koppen climate classification system (A, B, C, D, E, and H climate zones).

What climates zones would a person encounter while going from Lone Pine to the trail head and then to the summit of Mt. Whitney? Obviously, the summit is located in the Highland (H) zone, but what about the lower elevations? I think that Lone Pine is in a B climate zone, but is it desert (BW) or steppe (BS)?

Thank you.

Lone Pine is DEFINITELY desert at 3700 ft! Group B.

Then between 6k and 8k, trees abound. Group C-ish...

And the mosquitoes at the Portal may be as huge as the ones in the holy state of Minnesota!

Have fun...

Wow, I find this interesting. I've been going to Bishop, the Sierra's etc for over 45 years and have always considered Lone Pine, Bishop, Big Pine to be semi desert. Gets hot as hell in the Summer. Cold as a witches "you know" in Winter. So, I looked up some info and believe Lone Pine is considered semi-arid (Köppen BSk). From what I read, if an area gets too much rain, it is not considered a desert. The Sierras keep a lot of rain from reaching the valley, but there is certainly a big difference between Lone Pine and Little Lake. There is a huge difference between Lone Pine and Inyokern. This is kind of a fun subject and hopefully we can get more info.

That's the God's Honest Truth, Gary! I used to think that we (Georgia) had the biggest, nastiest skeeters in the country - till I finally visited Min-nee-SOOO-ta in summer. The little bastards up there - counted in the gazillions at a minimum - eat deet for breakfast and ask for seconds. I'm still convinced that Georgia has the biggest skeeters I've ever seen, but Minnesota (and other places, like Outpost Camp and Mono Pass trail, dammit) takes the numbers and attitude trophy. Those 13,000 or so lakes in MN make one helluva mosquito habitat! I hear Alaska can be even worse.

As for climate zones, "desert" has an enormous range of appearances. Just in Death Valley alone, you can drive from Badwater to Stovepipe Wells, and then further north to Ubehebe and see three dramatically different versions of "desert". If you've not visited the Badlands in the Dakotas (technically not a desert), you'd be amazed at how much more desert-like and forbidding they are than many tried-and-true deserts. And, then there's always Siberia . . .

The average mean temperature (yearly average) of Lone Pine is appx 10 degrees below the mean temperature of Inyokern. Inyokerns mean temperature is 70 degrees, while the mean temperature in Lone Pine is 60 degrees. On average, it rains and snows a bit more in Lone Pine, though both towns are in the rain shadow. Inyokern has an average of 355 days of sunshine and is considered a desert, while Lone Pine is considered high desert and averages around 295 (appx) days of sunshine. From my observation (driving!)Lone Pine has much more riparian habitat because of the many artisan wells, streams, creeks and the Owens River. Similar species exist in both climates, including Mountain Lion, Deer, Coyote, but I've had a hard time finding the Mojave Green Rattlesnake as high as Lone Pine. Mojave Greens are fairly common to Inyokern.(yes, I know there are rattlers in the foothills of the Sierras.) I've also had first hand experience with Mojave Greens from my days training hunting dogs.

The elevation difference is fairly significant, with Lone Pine being 3700 feet and Inyokern being at 2400 feet.

I'm going by my travels to the Sierras since I was about 5 years old or so. Bishop is my "adopted" second home. I find Lone Pine, Bishop, etc to have more green trees, several varieties of willows, cottonwoods, a couple of species of Olive, rabbitbrush, etc. The Sierra runoff is much heavier near Lone Pine, though much of it doesn't reach the Owens River. Water seepage to the surface is obvious all along the Owens River and valley. There are also wetlands that hold thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of birds and waterfowl near Lone Pine. In a 1998 survey, the Eastern Sierra Audubon Society found 112 different avian species alone at Owens Dry Lake. Wildlife seems to be more abundant. I worked with a research biologist a little over a year ago on DNA testing of Kangaroo Rats and I believe the species in Inyokern are different from the species in Lone Pine. I only point that out because separate species would live in distinct climates because of the different vegetation, temperatures, etc. Just taking a look at the Pika, seen high on Mt Whitney. They cannot live in a temperature above 70 degrees.

I'm certainly not an expert on whether the climate of Lone Pine is a lot different than Inyokern, though from what I discovered in a short search tonight, there is a difference. I just find that the desert seems to change once you pass the Little lake area.

But, you are lucky enough to be just a few miles from the Sierra, while mine is a 3 to 4 hour drive, so I am a bit jealous.

The mosquitoes in Alaska are among the world's largest. I once saw a ramp crew at Elmandorf Air Force Base in Anchorage try to refuel one with JP4 because they mistook it for a B52. Really.

The world's largest mosquito is the Toxorhynchites speciosus with the female of the species reaching a blood-sucking length of 1.5 inches. It prefers nectar.....thank God.

When I lived in Hawaii, the mosquito's would gather outside the window screen at night and actually keep you awake. One night a woke up and found 5 or 6 on the wall above my head. I killed every one and left blood splotches all over the wall. I must have looked silly as I jumped up and down on the bed trying to kill them.

Per the Sierra Nevada Wikipedia, Sierra Nevada (U.S.) there are 5 climate zones...

We'll have to "agree to disagree". Here's a link which compares two locations. I found the annual precip differences to be about .5".

Hi Kevin....Now you got me in trouble. I have to find my link (links). But the worst part is that my wife is a wildlife biologist and I decided to ask her the question about the differences between Lone Pine and Inyokern. Well, she took me over to her library, pulled out her Jepson Manual, that I can't even understand, and showed me maps of the different regions. Then she told me to find the answer. Gee, I thought that was what wives are for :-) Well, the first thing I found is that Inyokern and Lone Pine are in different Floristic Provinces. Lone Pine is in the Great Basin Province, while Inyokern is in the Desert Province. In short, that means that different plants grow in those regions. Now she has me trying to find Watershed maps, in which she says there should be a large difference.

Why Kevin did you start me on this??? It's like homework for adults. And worst of all, I'm an artist......I didn't do homework :-)

As a note, Inyokern is on the border of two climate zones and looks to share one of the zones with Lone Pine.

according to http://www.idcide.com/weather/ca/lone-pine.htm the mean temperature (not the high or low) is 60.1 degrees.

according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inyokern,_California the average mean temperature for Inyokern is 70 degrees. That makes a difference of 9.9 degrees.

I'll check on the precipitation. Rain is correct at .5, but I think it snows about 5 more inches in Lone Pine. Also, the runoff from the Sierras is large and that changes the ecology, especially near the river.

Hey Quill......

Remember....."for better or worse"

You should be amused to find that many people who are supposed to be scientists will, when confronted with a situation where reality differs from their model, insist that reality is wrong, and their model is right...

Where do you think Dark Matter and Dark Force came from?

Back to the OP, I'm not familiar enough with the Koppen system to give a correct answer. But there is a good range of climates encountered, from arid and hot Lone Pine all the way to alpine at the top.

Check your PM's -

Insert "politician" for "scientist", and the statement is still valid. I think this also goes for 10 year-olds.

For the record, I was just voicing an observation. My comment was not directed at anyone participating in this thread.

...and lawyers, corporate CEOs, and Whitney Board posters.

I hope we have answered your questions...It was my fault I mentioned Minnesota's state bird...just kidding...

We are all a funny lot here on the WPSMB...

QS, you get an "A" for your homework assignment. Fascinating. Your wife really loves you so...

Fascinating what you can learn on this board and, in particular, on this thread.

Of course, the best solution is to come on out here and see it for yourself!

The Whitney Lottery is less than 5 months away!

Have fun...

Thanks to everyone who answered my questions about the Mt. Whitney climate zones. There were some interesting posts.

Here is my little anecdote from this year - 106 degrees picking my the Permit in Lone Pine. 28 degrees at Trail Crest (minimal wind chill). In the interest of full disclosure the Lone Pine temp was in the middle of the day and the Trail Crest temp was just before sunrise.