Weather Change

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Yesterday was 83 degree a beautiful spring day and today about the same. By the time I'm in combatives this evening we will have a 50 degree temperature drop within an hour or so. 50 degrees is very harsh but not spectacular for this state and having sleet/snow this late is unusual but not unheard of. The winds will be at 50+

What bugs me though is that if it all goes to poo we will not have the luxury of the weather channel and the daily news. I'm watching the clouds and they tell of a change but not like what they say is coming.
If someone was out on recon, trading or long hunting they would find themselves in deep and real fast. Maybe too fast to adapt camp, shelter and fire. I'm not sure if I carry enough to make it thru a night. I guess it would be get tough or die and sleep would be non existent cause one would need to stay moving and warm.

[Not_Yet_Prepped]

If someone was out on recon, trading or long hunting they would find themselves in deep and real fast. Maybe too fast to adapt camp, shelter and fire. I'm not sure if I carry enough to make it thru a night. I guess it would be get tough or die and sleep would be non existent cause one would need to stay moving and warm.

I often think about the "pioneers" and what did they do? What did they carry (what was their EDC)? Were they that good at reading the weather or "overly" prudent and set up camp/shelter at the sight of a "bad" sky?

As you point out we take it for granted that if we see bad weather approaching we assume that it wont be THAT BAD because other wise the Weatherman(woman) would have said something about it.

The best solution I have come to is Proper Clothing (multi-layers and have rain gear quick access) and decent EDC gear...Here in WNC with a little knowledge and practice shelter is pretty easily acquired with just a few tools. But if I remember you showed the pictures of barren landscape so if you dont bring your shelter you cant have any (I guess your EDC must include a trap or tent)...

[Karen]

I've been wondering about this for the last couple of weeks. Would these help?

http://tinyurl.com/c8kd7hz

http://www.cpr-savers.com/SOL-Survival-Blanket_p_1983.html

I think during the month of May we need to keep our packs stocked just like we would for winter. I think May is the worse month for fluctuating temps here in Oklahoma. We also have tornado season to contend with for the next coupls of months.
Keep a warm jacket, hat and warm clothing in your vehicle, and extra rations to provide more calories since calories will be burned up trying to keep warm.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

I've been wondering about this for the last couple of weeks. Would these help?

http://tinyurl.com/c8kd7hz

http://www.cpr-savers.com/SOL-Surviv...et_p_1983.html

I actually carry those types of things and they are better than a sharp stick in the eye but they certainly shouldn't give you false hope. About 10pm tonight walk outside wrapped up in one with the clothes you wore today like a t-shirt and maybe a light jacket early this morning and see how long you would last, I was greatly disappointed at one of the kids football games a while back. That tent will also need to be protected against the 50+mph winds already started on the western side of the state otherwise it will be shredded

[protus]

The more time you spend out side actually paying mind to mom nature you pick up clues as to what will happen. Can you get blindsided sure but that's where adaptation comes into play..

[Matt In Oklahoma]

The more time you spend out side actually paying mind to mom nature you pick up clues as to what will happen. Can you get blindsided sure but that's where adaptation comes into play..

yep and today is one of the blindsides. I'm still looking for the "signs" of how bad it will be. I see the signs of change but nothing like what they are saying

[EX121]

I too carry the space blankets. The best way that I have used them is to take off my coat, then wrap the space blanket around my torso and then put my coat back on. My outer coat was water proof. I've never had much luck with the 'potato chip' type blanket just wrapped around me like a cloak.
I've had just as good luck with garbage bags as an outer layer. One time in North Carolina I spent the night out inside 2 garbage bags packed with oak leaves. The temperature got down to the low 40s. I was wearing poly-pro long underwear, BDUs (yep I'm that old) and a gortex coat & pants , and a wool hat.
You would be in greater danger if you where out on a scout in tshirt & jeans and got caught in the weather. Just makes it more important to be prepared.
Remember a lot of pioneers & Mt. Men just disappeared and where never seen again, I think the weather was probably the cause.

[Grand58742]

You know though, this one was more or less without warning. As we were outside training and Matt was getting owned by me, it became pretty dang chilly pretty dang quick. No real clues that it was about to happen minus the light rainstorm that came through about fifteen minutes prior. Went from low 80s to close to 55 like in a span of 20 minutes.

Odd weather for Oklahoma (or that I've heard) and makes it hard to plan around from time to time. So instead of packing out the springtime BOB and dropping extra snivel gear, I have to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be inside the pack.

Maybe next month lol

[Matt In Oklahoma]

You know though, this one was more or less without warning. As we were outside training and Matt was getting owned by me,

poor little feller musta got frostbite in the brain when the stuff hit either that or the pregnancy caused him memory loss

[mtgrandma]

A barometer helps, also tells you when the fish are biting.