Weather

Knowing what the weather will be like at the park you are considering is important to your health, happiness and safety.  Will it be too hot, too cold, windy, rainy or stormy. There are several good websites to help you figure this out.  WEATHER.COM is a great place to start.  This is the weather channel’s website.  All you need is the zip code of the area you want to check and you will immediately be able to view current temperature, UV index, wind speeds and humidity.  Of more use for future planning is a colorful graph that will show you average high and low temperatures over the course of a year. Included are helpful notes stating the average warmest month, coolest month and wettest month.   This website is easy to navigate. You can even set up weather on your desktop and track your selection of cities.   Somewhat distracting are the many advertisements.  Learn to ignore those and you will have alot of fun here. ACCUWEATHER.COM is also a great site to use in your research.  The ads are there but not as intrusive.  This site will give you the weather information you need and alot more.  They say “we provide more than just weather information.  We give you insights useful to you in planning your life.  Interesting sections are weather blogs and the weather photo gallery.  WUNDERGROUND.COM  The ads are back to being annoying but if you go straight to the Weather Trip Planner you will be rewarded.  Input your destination, departure date, return date and click on plan your trip.  TIP: Your destination does not have to be a major city.  This planner will work with smaller towns. Try Raton, New Mexico for example.  The planner will give you average high and low temperatures for the time of year you slected as well as chances of a hot day (over 90 degrees) chances of a warm day (over 60 degrees) or a freezing day (below 32 degrees) as well as average daily precipitation, snow depth, cloud cover, wind and humidity.  To top it all out it charts out daily observations over your selected time period for 10 full years.  NOAA.GOV standing for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a Government internet Service.  The good news is there are no ads, the bad news is the format is not as user friendly.  Radar imagery, warnings, observations and forecasts are all presented in no nonsense style.  NOAA NEWS features comments of interest such as “October 2007 was the warmest month on record for the contiguous United States.”  Of particular interest is the NOAA weather radio section.  It features a color coded county map showing where to tune into Weather Radio broadcasts or you can click to a list of National Radio Listings.  The importance of having a weather radio with you as you travel can not be understated.