What do you all use for a weather forecast for up the Gunflint?

Here is one from Hungry Jack Lake, halfway up the Gunflint:

Tom Hungry Jack Weather

Name of lake + weather on Google.com.

OMGitsKa: "Name of lake + weather on Google.com. "

I think that forecast comes out of Grand Marias so probably not the moat accurate. Unfortunately I think the only two weather stations you have to use would be Ely or Grand Marias. I usually just use Ely and subtract a couple degrees. Rain is always hit or miss but you can usually tell if your in for a drencher.

quark2222: "Here is one from Hungry Jack Lake, halfway up the Gunflint:

Tom Hungry Jack Weather "

That will work! Between that and Ely should be more than enough. Mostly the rain that I’m looking at. I don’t usually look too much into the weather but I’ve been on a run of trips with thunderstorms that seem to just camp right on top of us.

If you have an iPhone, you can punch in a location in the weather app that comes with the phone. I have Sawbill Landing, and Isabella saved on my weather locations. Just looked at Sawbill Landing, and there is a thunder storm right now, and it is supposed to pour there in around 3 hours. Total rainfall of 2.05" there today. The Isabella location shows less rain, and total rainfall for the day at 0.9".

Ely shows 2.65" total for the day forecasted, and a different time vs. amount of rain distribution this evening, and Grand Marais shows a total of 0.95" today, with the heaviest rain between 7-8 pm.

My point is that the Sawbill Landing and the Isabella locations are not the same as the Ely or Grand Marais forecasts on the iPhone. The iPhone forecasts do seem to change rather rapidly, so I'm not sure how accurate they are. Not sure where they get their forecast info from. Around my house, it can be surprisingly accurate at times. They will say the rain will start in 12 minutes, and it really does start in 12 minutes.

Tom

www.weather.gov for me! I've always found the NWS to be best, and you can drill down to forecast discussions, maps, and more specific data galore. Search for Ely or GM. To the right of "detailed forecast" you'll see a map. Scroll on the map and click on your specific area of travel along the Gunflint. The system will then reload a forecast for that specific spot.

Check out the NWS' IDSS Forecast Points page. Curious that the default is Duluth, I'm guessing NWS Duluth is the developer/maintainer.

https://www.weather.gov/forecastpoints

Very helpful, thanks!

Before I leave home I check both Ely and Grand Marais. Wilderness travel means preparing for extremes so I can handle what ever the conditions. Two things that I look for are long range storm predictions and wind speed and direction. These predictions are usually pretty good except for timing. If a strong NE wind is predicted in 5 days it will likely happen but it might be sooner or later, but I will have a small lake alternative in mind. If I know a strong cold front is coming through it will make me choose a campsite on a protected shore or with little trees. I don't worry about weather that makes me uncomfortable, I do worry about weather that can kill me. In the BWCA this usually involves wind, (big waves and hypothermia).