The Mountains Warmed up 50°C in a Week
A wild temperature swing made it almost too cold to ice climb to being able to rock climb comfortably
Photo by: Brandon Pullan of Will Meinen near Canmore in January
The Arctic Outflow that brought below seasonal temperatures to many parts of North America has transitioned into a period of above seasonal temperatures. Within one week, the Canadian Rockies went from -40°C to +10°C, a change of 50°C.
As reported by the Rocky Mountain Outlook, “Bow Valley Provincial Park [just west of Calgary] also set a new record low temperature at -45.3°C. The old record was -38.9°C set in 1950. Records in the area have been kept since 1928.” This week, the temperatures in Bow Valley Provincial Park are nearing double digits.
Climbers in many places went from not being able to start their vehicles due to the freezing temps to ditching the ice gear and heading to their local rock climbing crag. While the weather outlook looks great for this week, in places from the Bow Valley to Red Rocks to Joshua Tree and Yosemite, another period of cold winter weather is expected starting next week.
And it’s not just in North America, things have warmed up so much in Chamonix that organisers have cancelled a ski world cup. Due to the several factors, including rapidly changing weather, the avalanche danger in many areas is considerable or high. Be sure to check avalanche.ca before heading out.
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