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Planning on heading out there this weekend (Sunday) what would be the best time to start in order to finish before the storms hit?

I usually average around 2.5 mph.

Unfortunately, the answer to that is highly variable. My experience is that on days where storms develop, (because it doesn't storm everyday), the earliest you see something is around 10. By noon, there's usually storms popping up all along the higher elevations of the Rim and Whites.

Of course, that depends strongly on the current monsoon pattern. Today I didn't see storms on radar around Flag until about 12:30, and they're still firing now (2:30). It's been a slightly "low-grade" monsoon flow this week however, and I believe that there's the possibility for much more moisture this weekend due to the remnants of Hurricane Dolly.

The hurricane moisture also throws off the weather forecast models because the computers just don't have enough historical data to figure out how its going to affect the weather, so a weekend like this can be very unpredictable weatherwise.

Another indicator to keep an eye out for is the night before ... and early morning. If storms on the previous day result in a cloudy overnight and early morning, it will typically buy you a couple of hours before storms fire, because the morning clouds prevent the sun from heating the ground as quickly, which is a major factor in developing thunderstorms.

I would just start at 6 or 7 am. If you coming up from Phoenix and not camping in Flag the night before the elevation will affect you more. You probably won't average 2.5mph roundtrip either.

perfect, thanks guys. i was planning on starting between 6 and 7

When we did last sunday we started at 7:30 and where don by 1 one. It started pouring rain right as we got to the end of snowbowl road so my guess is people up on the mountain would be drenched.

So how did it go for you?

"and I believe that there's the possibility for much more moisture this weekend due to the remnants of Hurricane Dolly." I camped on the Rim Friday night and the storm that came through late in the afternoon had the old timers in the area saying it was the heaviest they have every seen. We had about 10 minutes of hail, non stop thunder and heavy rain for about 1.5 hours.

I guess no one does triplogs anymore.

didnt make it up there. I got suckered into helping a buddy move and that went well into the night.

I plan on making it up this weekend. Hopefully on Sunday.

Made it out there on Sunday... what a great day! made it up in 3:10 and down in 2:30. all in all great hike that kicked my butt. Had some light rain on top and sunshine on the way down.

Going out again on Sunday to try to get it in under 5.

Cool, glad you made it up there. If you can camp in Flag the night before that will help a bit. I haven't beat 3 hours on the accent if I've came up from Phoenix. Only place I've made up time was running down.

That is kind of what i figured. I was thinking i could possibly trim about 10 to 15 off my time up and save about a half hour on the way down by running and not falling.