Temps in the Whites in July?

Dear David,

I check here https://www.mountain-forecast.com/ and here https://www.mountainweather.com/

And did as much as possible through the links at the Mount Washington Observatory. Mostly these ones for summer. Good luck!

https://www.mountwashington.org/experience-the-weather/higher-summit-forecast.aspx

https://www.mountwashington.org/experience-the-weather/mount-washington-weather.aspx

You can get the info condense from those two links here:

https://www.mountwashington.org/uploads/pdf/white-mountain-region-forecast.pdf

There is more to consider up there than temp. Hiking in clouds with 35 mph winds will chill your bones. At Lake of the Clouds hut, they let AT hikers sleep on the floor due to 50-60 mph winds last week of July. Have gear to handle wet weather around wind chill of 35 and you should be OK. However, I’ve had snow up there every summer month, so be prepared!

I haven’t hiked there a lot, but have been on Mount Washington in the summer in shorts and a t-shirt and I’ve been on Mount Washington in the late summer in 60 mph winds and 5-foot visibility.

So be prepared to hike during the day in clothes that keep you warm in wet, windy conditions (always a good idea in any mountains, but more so in the Whites).  I wouldn’t rely on a poncho – they’re a UL multi-purpose item but are crap in Iceland, the Aleutians, the high Sierra and the Whites when they’re being blown sideways.

Since you get to pick your campsite (i.e. not at the summit), you can be lower, warmer, and less windy at night.

As I type this, it is 3:20 pm on the Mt Washington summit, 58F, 20 mph wind, wind chill = 50F and that’s about as nice as it gets.  50-80 mph and being in a moist cloud can happen (but you shouldn’t have tried to summit if that was in the forecast).  However, Mount Washington summit itself has a museum, restrooms, gift shop, and snack bar so you can get a bowl of chili.  (The ultimate UL gear is a $20 bill that weighs only 1 gram but can be converted into hot food and sugary drinks. From a Yelp review last year, which matches my memory: “They have hot pizza, chili, soups, cold sandwiches etc in a refrigerator case, multiple snack options, fruits, drinks, hot coffee and hot chocolate. “)

If you would hike in white-out conditions, have a navigation app or GPS along.  Yes, you’ll follow the ducks and cairns that are closely spaced, but (at least my) situational awareness plummets in zero-vis.

20 deg bag and a puffy is perfect. I’d bring a 200 wt 1/4 zip fleece, and a light knit hat and gloves. And of course RAIN GEAR.

I hoping you’ll be past Mt. Washington by July 19/20 because that’s when they hold their Seek the Peek annual fundraiser for the weather observatory.  I did it a number of years ago and the summit at Mt. Washington can get really busy – along with the cafeteria.  It was a fun day, but the trails are pretty crowded on summer weekends to begin with and then with the “Hike-a-thon” it was nuts.