HikeArizona.COM

My wife and I are planning an overnighter down into fossil in the next few weeks. I'd like to be able to check the weather forcast ahead of time. I'm not sure where to check though. Payson and strawberry are both a couple thousand feet higher. Would looking at Camp Verdes weather give me a good idea of the temps and possibility of rain down in fossil?

Don't make it so hard. The Great and Wondrous Wizard of HAZ has anticipated your concerns and provided for you.

Go to the Hike Description (linked below). In the top bar on the far right it says "Weather/Forecast". Click on Forecast. This gives you a 4 day Forecast from the Nearest National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ("NOAA") reporting station. In the case of Fossil Springs, it shows that the nearest station is 17 miles NW of Payson. It's based on Lat/Long instead of towns/cities. http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=183

NEXT (and this is important) click on Weather, you will see average Temperatures and Precipitation for each month. AND you will see that the reporting station is 5 miles away toward Camp Verde at 3,180feet AND IMPORTANTLY you will see that you need to ADD 3.5DEGREES for the lowest point on the hike. Camp Verde may have several reporting stations. The HAZ reference will be to the station nearest the Trailhead. As a practical matter, it probably doesn't matter in this case. But this does tell you the elevation of the reporting station and then you add or subtract degrees based on changes in elevation. I'm not a meteorologist, but I use a change of 4degrees F for every change of 1,000 feet elevation.

All of the internet weather forecasts are based on NOAA info. If you want you can pull the Lat/Long for a Trailhead from HAZ and plug that into many of the forecast sites. The forecast site will then find the neareast NOAA reporting station and give you the forecast.

Hope that helps.

As Al_HikesAZ said...

Forcast are listed on all hike pages, here's the one for fossil
http://hikearizona.com/forecast.php?LAT ... -111.56858

You can also go to "TrailDEX Map" and move the pointer anywhere then click "Forecast" under the "Tools" tab.

Thanks guy that's just what I needed.