Weather patterns for any climbing season are always a hot topic of conversation and one of the keys to a successful climb. Of course, there are many questions. Are extended outlooks/forecasts reliable? Which websites can I trust? Which forecast models are the best? How is climate change impacting weather patterns? Let me briefly go over
Read MoreThere has been an increase in cyclones and associated storms and heavy snow for Everest in May. There were two major cyclones in 2021 and one Super Cyclone in 2020. Is this a trend to we can expect for the future? In years past the strongest cyclones and associated storms, Tropical Cyclones in the Bay
Read MoreClimbing Aconcagua, “the Colossus of America,” means conquering the tallest mountain in South America. Along the Andes – the world’s longest stretch of mountains – East of Santiago, Chile, just over the Argentinian border in Mendoza Province, “The Sentinel of Stone” stands. Aconcagua is derived from the native Aymaran words “kon” and “kawa,” which translate
Read MoreStorms-Deadly. Recent deadly tropical storms (cyclones) in the Bay of Bengal haven’t been bigger or fiercer but they have grown increasingly impact. A quick glance at the statistics, however, might mislead toward a much different conclusion. Before just a couple decades ago, multi-billion dollar damage estimates from storms in the Bay of Bengal weren’t a
Read MoreJet Stream. The subtropical jet stream, the Himalayan Plateau and Mt. Everest. The strongest large-scale wind system, the subtropical jet stream is the steadiest wind belt in the upper troposphere. The weather feature is only semi-permanent – big weather such as cyclones and fronts can temporarily displace it. When shifted, it often splits into several smaller
Read MoreGlaciers and retreating glaciers is an important issue for mountaineers especially for Mt. Everest and the rest of the Himalaya. Also important to areas north and west of here into the Karakoram where K2 is found. From the Sanksrit term “himalayah,” meaning “abode of snow,” the world’s most mountainous region houses 18,065 glaciers, leading to
Read MoreAsia Weather and rainfall patterns of the Asian monsoon, it’s increasingly being found, are dominantly steered by differences in temperature between northern India and sea surface waters. The differentiation makes pressure differentials, which stir winds and develop rainy weather patterns. The last fifteen years have been a welcomed reprieve from the previous fifty-year dip –
Read MoreAsian Monsoon Summer 2017. The present near neutral but above average ENSO state may shift into a weak El Nino this summer or fall. What does that mean for central Asia? When it does arrive, the phenomenon instigates underlying effects on the weather that have an established, intermittent history of drying the monsoon and thus devastating
Read MoreWeather Trends Mt. Everest. Spring 2017’s weather trends near Nepal – Mt. Everest. After a slightly wetter than average 2016 in Nepal, La Niña is subsiding and El Niño appears to be returning. On many occasions, this reappearance has proven troubling. The characteristic change in sea surface temperatures leads to a weakened monsoon and, most
Read MoreThe 2016 North Indian Ocean Cyclone Season The three names for tropical storms, hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones all refer to storms with the same characteristics and can bring harm to climbers and others. The titles reflect regional differences in describing the same phenomena. Hurricanes originate in the Atlantic Basin. Typhoons in the Pacific and Cyclones
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