The weather man thinks this arctic blast won’t go too far West.

[Owen McMurrey]

I'll be at the Lee Pass TH at Kolob Canyons in Zion NP, either Wednesday or Thursday morning, depending-and I bring the storms.
At this moment, I'm 4 for 4 at Kolob, with storms coinciding with my arrival on all 4 occasions.
There's some snow, the wind picks up by up to 20mph, and temperatures usually drop 15-20F below forecast, exactly the change they're predicting for the parts of the nation affected by the "arctic invasion".

Coming in while I'm still at the TH. Wind was blowing the doors on my rental car shut, and I got blown over while standing on one foot messing with my gaiter.

No pics of the storm, but there's a reason my rain gear is hanging on the outside of my pack. Didn't make it over the first rise, and had to button up.

Back for an overnighter(instead of paying for a hotel) before heading back to NV. I was headed to campsite #3, made it to #1 after exploring a finger canyon, and POW.

Took my dad sightseeing at Bryce, Zion, Red Rock, and Valley of Fire in April 2012 the week after he retired. All beautiful until we go to the Timber Creek Overlook just past Lee Pass.
Before we even got out of the car.

They're saying warm and dry in Utah, but I think I'll just be prepared for teens, as usual.
I LOVE the wind and cold, and this is one of the many reasons La Verkin Creek is my "happy place", so bring it on! :)

[Nick Smolinske]

For more information, look up the forecast for your area on noaa.gov, and then scroll down and click the link that says "forecast discussion". Here's the one for Utah, and it pretty much confirms that you should be worried:

"THE GFS KEEPS THE DEEPER COLD AIR JUST NORTH OF
THE FORECAST AREA. REGARDLESS…A FAIRLY STRONG COLD FRONT WILL
PUSH SOUTH THROUGH NORTHERN AND CENTRAL UT DURING THE DAY."

[Owen McMurrey]

Oh, I'm hopeful, not worried.
Lower temps would mean a massive 2oz increase in my baseweight for a warmer bottom baselayer to wear while in camp and sleeping, and better hiking weather during the daytime. Current forecast calls for 30-35 on the low end and highs ~60, so a 15F drop is exactly what I want.

[Anonymous]

"Oh, I'm hopeful, not worried."

Hah, you sound like me. Ironic then that we both live in the SE. If it wasn't for my spouse, i'd probably move back to MA or NH (well, never actually lived in NH, just on the border in one of the colder places in MA).

Anyways, i second you, bring on the cold and dry weather!

p.s., it will be similar temps near this time, around SNP where i most often backpack.

[Owen McMurrey]

For once it didn't happen. My schedule got completely rearranged due to injury flare-ups(Subway dayhike on day 1 certainly didn't help the knee, either), but it looked like quite a storm forming when I finally got to Lee Pass yesterday for an overnight of La Verkin.
The wind even picked up right on cue while I made a video of the threatening mass of dark clouds from the TH, but it stayed in place while I hiked toward it, then broke up and blew away :(

It's coming, though. Coming tonight, while I chill warmly in a hotel.
Forecast low up there is now down to 9F, with up to 8" of snow.
I'm feeling pretty ok about this hotel at the moment…

[Owen McMurrey]

It *looked* promising, anyway…

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