South Routes

NWS Grand Junction is doing a much better job of covering the upcoming storm event than any other NWS office in the Region.  Here are some snippets from GJT's coverage: A low pressure system moving out of Siberia into the Bering Sea is the system that will eventually become the winter storm that will impact the region this weekend. The NPJ will pick up this low to strengthen it and carry it southeast over the Pacific Northwest and to eastern Utah and Western Colorado.  Where might such moisture be coming from? And, why such an abrupt change in weather pattern, you ask? Well first, guidance from the latest Atmospheric River (AR) outlook by CW3E , identified two plumes of integrated water vapor transport (IVT) making landfall along the PacNW by Thursday, and the second pulse Friday into Saturday. This event is declared the first AR of water year 2023.  Even though it`s on the weaker end of the AR scale (AR 1), it`ll bring appreciable rainfall along the PNW, and eventually, ...

  Wow-za-roonie!  We gotta zoomie!  The snow's a comin' and there ain't no time for lolly gaggin'. As noted yesterday, we said weather could play a wild card in our travel plans.  Well, the wild card has been played and now we have to deal with the hand we've been dealt. A large, wet storm is roarin' in from the Northern Pacific.  The jetstream pushin' this puppy will be a blowin' almost 140 miles per hour.  And did we say it's wet?  Yep, it's carryin' water vapor picked up from that large pool of warm ocean water we discussed a while back. How wet is it?  Well, NWS Grand Junction is just sayin' it's WET!! Check out NWS GJT's Wednesday morning comments: "The breakdown of a big bubble overhead will result in a major  shift in the forecast this weekend and may bring the first widespread snow storm across all mountain ranges for the season. The 120+ kt jet aloft will be sucking in a stream of Pacific moisture as the low deepens ...

We came right down to the wire plotting our 2022 South Route.  Of course, we knew there was one "anchor point" chiseled in stone: Our October 24th Capitol Reef camping reservation.  We made that reservation back on April 24th.  We once again snagged Site # 30 in the B Loop. That's the spot we consider to be The Best in the NPS Fruita Campground. OK, we waffled for weeks about how to get from Idaho Falls to The Reef.  Finally we decided to pass alongside Bear Lake and camp for a night or two.  Bear Lake then became "anchor point" # 2.  But the devil's in the details and, aside from the two anchor points, we really didn't know which routes we would be taking. Plus, there's a Weather Wild Card in the works...and it looks like a potentially significant wild card.  So, how would that affect the routing and camp selections?   In any event, as of the afternoon of October 18, we 'think" we have it figured out.  We had planned to leave tomorrow a...