Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Weather on Sunday PM 7/15?

Gentle People:

I was flying back to San Diego from Seattle, and we flew along the west side of the Sierras about 6 PM, Sunday 7/15. I could see Yosemite Valley, but the area South & East, where I expected to see Mt Whitney, was covered with clouds, with some that looked like they were boiling up, maybe not thunderheads though. It was then clear and I could see Lake Isabella and east toward Kennedy Meadows. I was wondering what was happening down below, if anybody was there.

A group of us are taking off on Friday 7/20 from Horseshoe Meadow to go over Cottonwood pass to Guitar Lake area and exit to Whitney Portal on Sunday 7/22. I just returned from an Alaska Cruise and will have to carry 5+ extra pounds of blubber on the hike.

The Maniac

To answer your question regarding the weather on MT. Whitney, Sunday the 15th! It was snowing up there! My husband and I had taken 6 other people up for a day hike. I arrived to the top at 8:16 a.m. and waited for the others to summit. It began to get pretty cold and the clouds started to get thicker. After my husband arrived, 8:25, we could only stay for a few minutes, as it started to snow on us. We left the summit before the others reached the top and experienced hail, rain and wind, on our way down. It finally cleared up when we reached Trail Camp, with the exception of a few light sprinkles along the way. I don't think I would have wanted to be up on the summit any later than we were. So I suggest, you get an early start, if you are planning a day hike to the summit!

I had a feeling something gnarly was going up on there. At around 5 p.m. the clouds were so dark that Whitney was barely visible from LP. That system extended up to where we were on Bishop Pass (held off until we got back to the parking lot, thankfully!) and then some. Saw some wicked dumping going on behind us as we drove back down to Bishop. My buddy Paul was on Mid Pal as well, and said they got a lot of rain, too.

I didn't hear any thunder nor saw any lightning, though. JUst clouds dark as night and a lot of rain.

-L

yeha was up there on 7/15 summited later - round 2pm. was raining on an off during the way up and some hail higher up. rained good later in the day but just on and off nothing too bad, no t-storms or lightning. from the summit it looked like north of us was getting a good drenching though. glad it wasnt on top of us at whitney tho.

I was up on the 15th also and as soon as the sun started to rise we could see clouds. As we neared the top of the switchbacks we started to get light hail and some rain. The rain drops seemed to be large, but very sporatic. Considering the weather conditions it seemed kind of spooky when you saw the lightning warning at Trail Crest!