Hike Duration (End Date) and Expected Weather Extremes
Choose a start date and your expected miles per day, then select your direction. You will receive an estimated hike duration and end date, along with a map showing where the expected highest and lowest temperatures should be encountered along the trail.
Weather Planner
Weather data provided by Open-Meteo.com under the 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Choose a planning date, select a state, then enter a northbound mile within that state's range. You will receive current conditions at that location, a 5-day forecast, and a 7-year planning average for that date and location.
Weather Data Notes
Notes on Data
This site uses average daily maximum and minimum temperature data from the last seven years, along with apparent temperature data that addresses heat index and wind chill issues. This approach provides stability in planning values while also reflecting more recent shifts in climate conditions. We use the standard Steadman approach to these, and feel free to read more about them in the notes of the Florida Trail (for Heat Index) and New England Trail (for Wind Chill) sites where I first incorporated each into the planning tool.
All that being said, given that elevations do not change nearly as much on the Appalachian Trail as they do on other trails (like the Pacific Crest Trail or Continental Divide Trail), and they correspondingly do not cause as much of a weather shift, I have not created an AT-specific algorithm to estimate changes based solely on elevation or for specific AT peaks. But those are in development for the Arizona Trail and (if successful) may be for the AT in future builds.
Additional Resources
- AT Weather Hazards – Learn more about weather hazards along the AT from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, including how to prepare for and respond to them.
- ATWeather – Obtain current weather forecasts for individual camping and shelter sites.
- Mountain-Forecast – Obtain precise weather forecasts at high elevation and other highly variable weather areas.