Question - Biggest Temp drop on a ride?

[Erik.Lazdins]

This morning I left the house it was dry and 64 degrees at 4:00 AM.

I got back a little past 6 AM and it was 44 degrees, raining, and blowing hard from the north. A 20 degree drop in about 2 hours. At the moment I write this it's 32 degrees and freezing rain is forecast.

that got me to wondering - What is the biggest temp drop anyone has experienced on a ride?

[lemondsteel]

I was doing a 2 week bike trip in Colorado. I left Aspen headed to Leadville via Independence Pass. Aspen was a cool 60+ degrees and the sky wasn't real clear. By the time I got to the pass the sky was dark and the wind had whipped up an ugly hail storm. The temp had to be below freezing. I put on everything I had and waited for the hail to stop and then headed down to Leadville which was nothing but switchbacks an wet road. The temp drop had to be 30+ degrees. Rode a Woodrup touring bike fully loaded with panniers. NOT my best day on the trip.

[David Kirk]

A few summers ago here in Bozeman I didn't have the proper respect for the potential weather. I was riding up a box canyon and it was about 80* and sunny with some clouds here and there. As I got to about 1/2 way up the 10 mile climb the temp suddenly dropped and the wind picked up in a huge way. I looked toward the top of the climb and it was black. I turned around and tried to outrun it on the way down but got caught. The temp dropped and it hailed hard and snowed sideways. The hail was very big and hurt so much that I pulled over and hunkered down by the side of the road and waited. I heard a noise and looked up and it was a guy talking to me out the window of his Suburban asking if I needed a ride. He threw my bike in the back and I climbed in to the warm car. I was shivering uncontrollably.

He joked with me telling me that I shouldn't be out for a ride right then as it was 40* on his car thermometer. I was dressed for 80*..........shorts and a short sleeve jersey and a wind vest.

So the lesson is that it can and will routinely drop 40* during a ride. Carry more stuff even in the summer.

Thinking of it now still gives me the chills. I had welts on my arms and legs for a solid week from the hail. Not good.

Dave

[Xyzzy]

Not that anyone was riding that day:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/tfx/tx.php?wfo=tfx&type=html&loc=text&fx=topweather

January 11, 1980. The temperature at the Great Falls International Airport rose from -32F to 15F in seven minutes as warm, Chinook winds eroded an Arctic airmass. This 47 degree rise in seven minutes stands as the record for the most rapid temperature change registered in the United States.
I doubt it counts as a "ride", but in early January 1994 I "rode" a plane from Africa to Boston. When I left it was over 100F and when I arrived it was maybe 10F before the wind chill. I was sick for weeks.

[stevep]

biggest differential was on a climb.
90 degrees at the bottom. 40 degrees and quite windy at the top.
brought a decent amount of extra clothes but had to lend some to blockhead mo who only brought arm warmers.
the stelvio was the climb.
i shivered on the way down because of blockhead mo.
ask atmo.

[cadence231]

Cripes Mr kirk! That riding in the western mtns is some serious stuff!

I don't know about the temp for certain (maybe 65F)but riding north one cloudy windy day, I went through a type of thermoclime that was a definite "wall" of transition from warm air, south wind, to cold air, north wind(50F). There were debris in (little things like dust and such) the "wall". Freaked me out! It was like being teleported into another zone of existence.

That Tulsa stuff is coming our way to Springfield, MO shortly. Props for getting out at 4am! :)

[djg]

This was a hike/climb, not a ride, but I once did Mt. Washington on September 1 (holiday weekend)--a very warm 80 degrees late morning at the bottom, the clouds started to move as we climbed, and I had to pull a parka out of my pack at the top because it had dropped to about 30 degrees and snow flurries had started.

[jeffg]

Terrible Two: Santa Rosa, CA (2003). 118F on Skaggs Springs Road, ending up hitting fog, wind and low 60s on the coast! Brutal day all around

That was better than the 2002 Devil Mountain Double, though, since it was about 36F at the top of Mount Diablo at about 6:45 AM, with low 80s on Mines Road. I luckily missed the hail on Mount Hamilton by a few minutes, but it was still in the mid-30s on that very long descent.

It is difficult to layer for 30s and 80s-90s in the same ride, I find. 118 vs 50-60s just requires a light vest and maybe armwarmers ...

[Keith A]

The mountains can certainly have some crazy temperature changes. I remember once in Nicaragua we were driving back from the coast over some mountains to get to a city. I had on baggies and a t-shirt and we stopped at the top of the mountain to check out the view. I don't know the temperature change, but I was freezing at the top and this was in Central America.

We can have similar temperature changes along the coast during the winter. Just the past week I left my house (which is about 5 miles to the intercoastal river and 7.5 miles from the beach) -- it was in the high 40's with completely calm winds. When I got halfway to the river, the temperature increased to the mid to upper 60's with east winds 10-15 mph. I had to start shedding clothes as I was over heating. This is a pretty common occurrence, but every time it happens it surprises at how in such a short distance (on flat ground) the temperature can change..you just run into this wall of warm air.

What causes is this is when we have a strong onshore (easterly) winds combined with a warm ocean. The winds blow in the air that was been warmed by the ocean, but it only makes it in so far.

[chuckred]

Brrr (http://www.nrel.gov/midc/nwtc_m2/display/)