Here is an enrty from my hiking/climbing journal:
August 15: Black Mountain (Colorado)
I climbed Black Mountain (NE of Craig) today with a co-worker (Justin Kuhn). Kimberly (wife), Kessler (son) and Shaylee (daughter) also joined us.
In the early morning, it was pouring like crazy with plenty of lightning and loud thunder (before 8 am) and had been doing so all night. It was clear at 9 am, so we decided to give the mountain a try, it was good weather and we made good time until lunch at 11:30, when it began to hail at 10,300 feet. Kessler, Shaylee and Kim decided to head back while Justin and I went over the top of Black Mountain (10,860 feet) in the clouds and fog. We never did get any views. We descended the other side and it began to snow at 10,300 feet. It snowed and rained on and off until we were at the Freeman Reservoir trailhead at 8700 feet elevation where it began to snow again. It wouldn't be record breaking, but snow at 8700 feet on a mid-August afternoon is somewhat unusual.
On the drive home, it was 48F in Craig at only 6300 feet elevation and at 4:45 pm. On the drive back we could see that the top of Black Mountain was all white. I assume the cold front was somewhere between Craig and I-70 since the radio said it was 71 at Aspen (~8000 feet), which is usually cooler in the summer than Craig.
Anyway, what's kind of weird is this is the second snowstorm two years in a row on the same date. Check out this weather forecast I saved to my computer from last year and notice the date:
August 15 is turning out to be a fairly normal date for a snowstorm. Think it will happen three years in a row? I wonder what August 15 2010 will bring. Should we bet on three years in a row?
