Coldest Places/Experiences in the Catskills

[mink319]

With this nice cold spell we are having right now, I was wondering what is the coldest experience you have had in the Catskills and where. The coldest I have ever seen in the Catskills was -28F about 10 years ago near Huntersfield Mtn. I have heard from old timers up there that sometime in the 1970's in went down to -39F in East Jewett. They also said there was two weeks up there where it didnt go above zero. I guess thats possible, but the person who told me that also said that he saw flurries up there at 6 in the morning in July, thats questionable.

As for the coldest place in the Catskills I would say East Jewett or Maple Crest, or even Spruceton. From what I hear Woodland Valley is cold at night too. It always seems like from East Jewett to Spruceton has the most snow, I guess because of the Lake affect.

 

[Jay H]

I dunno, but I think my first hike in the catskills was pretty cold, although I have no idea the official temperature. Believe it or not my first hike was a winter crampon hike of Wittenburg from Woodland Valley. Since Woodland is in a valley, conceivable, the winds just gets funneled through that campsite. I remember it being windy and a bit tougher than I thought it would be. We had some glorious plan to do Cornell too, but by the time we got to the summit of Wittenburg, it was too late. I remember getting a late start that day too..

Jay

 

[Mark Schaefer]

I am not sure of the coldest place in the Catskills. As Jay mentioned I have seen early morning temperatures in the Woodland Valley well below zero. Any heat in those deep mountain valleys escapes upward real fast on cold, clear nights. I have XC skied at North Lake State Park near Haines Falls and at Hyer Meadows in Tannersville in single digits below zero.

I wish we had some skiable snow now for this cold snap. The temperatures are just now climbing above zero this morning. The Catskills got very scattered dustings of snow last night, but there is no skiable base anywhere (except for downhill ski resorts of course). I had slick icy conditions driving some back roads last night, but not much trouble now.

P.S. I can believe snow flurries at 6 in the morning in July. I have actually seen a few snow flakes during the afternoon in the Adirondacks in both July and August. Although rare summer snow flakes do occasionally happen.

 

[mink319]

Mark, now I believe that there was flurries in July because you are much more reliable source than the people who told me that. They have a bad reputation for telling ridiculous stories.
Two years ago I was camping at Huntersfield Mtn in July, and it went down to 42 that night. Its better then hot and humid though.