UKC

Where would I find the most accurate weather report for the Dolomites? Here for a week or so and in 24 hrs I have seen sun, rain, wind and thunder storms!......

Want to try my best not to get caught out!

In reply to minty1984:

there's now a cold front moving in from the northwest, with lot's of rain north of the alps and thunderstorms forecast till thursday minimum further south ... weather should get nicer towards the weekend.

for the moment being aim for small things you can easily abort.

In reply to minty1984:
I think the weather can be pretty hard to predict around there unless its very settled which is probably why such variance.

Anyway we found this useful for specific summits
http://www.mountain-forecast.com/


and also these
http://www.arpa.veneto.it/previsioni/en/html/meteo_dolomiti.php
http://www.dolomitimeteo.it/en/

this is useful also
http://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/charts/medium/mean-sea-level-pressure-win...

In reply to minty1984:

I find Arpav the best one: http://www.arpa.veneto.it/previsioni/it/html/meteo_dolomiti.php (just use a browser translator if you can't speak Italian).

Currently pretty terrible weather until Thursday. Friday onwards looking very good at the moment though.

In reply to minty1984:

Thanks for the fast responses people. Much appreciated.

Looks like it will be a walk or 2 until the weekend then.

In reply to minty1984:

The main thing is don't rely on the weather forecast. Usually they seem to be concocted by someone who's been smoking something and it will often not do what they say it will. That is the nature of being in the middle of a sodding great big mountain range. So, the rule of thumb is get up early and go and do something before it inevitably rains. It will nearly always get progressively worse through the day. Choose objectives like the Lagozuoi tunnels and you can be doing stuff without a worry. Or as you say, valley walks, or grab a hire bike, or god forbid if it's really that bad, Bolzano is worth a visit for the day for a bit of Tyrolean culture.

In reply to beardy mike:

I know you are more familiar with the area than me but my experience was if most the forecasts said it would rain all day or be sunny all day that's pretty much what happened. It was the in between forecasts that couldn't be trusted.

Also we found atleast one crag the overhung so much you could climb it in the rain

In reply to minty1984:

I agree that it is very difficult to trust the weather foreasts. I did a ski season this winter and had many days where the weather said it is currently dumping snow and there will be 40cm of it....... Yet I would be on the lift being baked in sunshine and not a cloud to be seen!

It does appear that all of the forecasts I have been looking at and the new ones I just checked seem to be of a very similar opinion.

We have our walking boots and water proofs and also the mountain bikes so there will be plenty to get into until the weather settles.