East kootenay alpine temperature expectations

[Sad604Man]

Hi everyone,

Im headed to the East kootenays for an alpine Mule deer hunt in mid september. I was looking for insight on what I could expect day and night time temperatures at around the 8000 foot mark. Of course mountain weather is un predictable, I'm just looking for a guideline on whether my coastal november long under wear, yukon rain gear and light puffy will cut it if it gets chilly. Thanks !

[Weatherby Fan]

Hi everyone,

Im headed to the East kootenays for an alpine Mule deer hunt in mid september. I was looking for insight on what I could expect day and night time temperatures at around the 8000 foot mark. Of course mountain weather is un predictable, I'm just looking for a guideline on whether my coastal november long under wear, yukon rain gear and light puffy will cut it if it gets chilly. Thanks !

Ive had 30 deg weather during the day and 12 inches of snow the next morning on Sept 10th in the Alpine so I always dress for the extreme...

[REMINGTON JIM]

Hi everyone,

Im headed to the East kootenays for an alpine Mule deer hunt in mid september. I was looking for insight on what I could expect day and night time temperatures at around the 8000 foot mark. Of course mountain weather is un predictable, I'm just looking for a guideline on whether my coastal november long under wear, yukon rain gear and light puffy will cut it if it gets chilly. Thanks !

You BETTER have more then a Light PUFFY - and better have Good Rain Gear too ! RJ

[bensonvalley]

As said above, warm/hot days and snow the next; anything is on the table that time of year. If you want a rough idea, the air temperature lapse rate is approx 6C per 3000 ft so look up the historical norms for the area you’re going to and do the math with the help of google earth. I’m guessing chilly nights for sure.

[firebird]

Ive had 30 deg weather during the day and 12 inches of snow the next morning on Sept 10th in the Alpine so I always dress for the extreme...

lol yes! I have a couple times loaded the horses in the rain down below and then been froze in the saddle and in 6” of snow at the top, once 2nd week of September and the other first week October

[J_T]

Snow in the hills this morning.

[dapesche]

Snow in the hills this morning.

Yup. Chatted with a guy that was hiking up kokanee glacier with friends and they were hiking in heavy snowfall.

Really nice to see some precip and cooler temps.

[PAhunter]

Last year in the Flathead we had days to hit a high of 30°c nights as low as -7°C. Valley bottom, September 1st-10th. On top of that we had 3 very windy days I would guess the gusts were in the 60-80kmh range.
Be prepared and have a great trip!

[ActionJackson017]

I can't say I've ever done a true alpine hunt, but my go to spot is 5,600 - 6,000 feet. A site that I use to plan my trips is Spotwx.com

Very easy to use - drop a pin on the location you intend to go to, and for me, I rely mostly on the 10 day forecast to determine what clothing I reasonably need to bring to be comfortable on the trip. It will show you forecasted temperature highs, lows, precipitation and most importantly for me, the WINDS. I review and update each night while I'm in the field on my iPad tethered to my phone so I can see the next day's wind forecast. That way I can plan which of my sets of loops I'm going to do and be nose forward in to the wind, and know what conditions it's expected I'll be out in.

Hope that helps and good luck!