Here come the monsoons - where to go now!?

Nick

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I'm all packed up and Audra and I are ready to head to the Wind Rivers for 4 days. The plan was to head into Cook Lakes and do a little loop, maybe up through Wall or shorten it and go over Lester Pass and back via Seneca Lake.

But check out the updated weather forecast...

Screen Shot 2012-07-04 at 9.06.30 PM.png

And this special weather statement:

Special Weather Statement

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RIVERTON WY
342 PM MDT WED JUL 4 2012

WYZ001>003-012>016-023>028-050900-
ABSAROKA MOUNTAINS-CODY FOOTHILLS-JACKSON HOLE-
ROCK SPRINGS AND GREEN RIVER-SALT RIVER AND WYOMING RANGES-
SOUTH LINCOLN COUNTY-STAR VALLEY-TETON AND GROS VENTRE MOUNTAINS-
UPPER GREEN RIVER BASIN-UPPER GREEN RIVER BASIN FOOTHILLS-
UPPER WIND RIVER BASIN-WIND RIVER MOUNTAINS EAST-
WIND RIVER MOUNTAINS WEST-YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK-
342 PM MDT WED JUL 4 2012

...WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND SOME THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED THURSDAY...

THE COMBINATION OF INCREASED MONSOONAL MOISTURE FROM THE SOUTH
OVERNIGHT COMBINED WITH SEVERAL UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES WILL
RESULT IN CONSIDERABLE SHOWERS AND SOME THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS MUCH OF
THE WEST ON THURSDAY. SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL
SPREAD INTO THE SOUTHWEST CORNER BY SUNRISE AND THEN SPREAD INTO
ALL OF THE SOUTHWEST DURING THE MORNING. WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL SPREAD INTO THE NORTHWEST BY EARLY
AFTERNOON ALONG WITH FALLING TEMPERATURES. CLIMBERS AND HIKERS IN THE
MOUNTAINS...ESPECIALLY IN THE TETONS AND YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR FALLING AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES ALONG WITH
CONSIDERABLE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. THE HIGHEST ELEVATIONS
ABOVE 10000 TO 11000 FEET WILL ALSO LIKELY SEE SOME SNOW SHOWERS
WITH EMBEDDED LIGHTNING FROM AROUND NOON THROUGH THE AFTERNOON.
STAY TUNED TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RIVERTON FOR FURTHER
UPDATES.

$$

SKRBAC

And now consider that all in the perspective that this will be Audra's first backpacking trip in over a year and I really want to make it comfortable. Think we should still go for The Winds? The Uintas are looking a little bit better. The Ruby Mountains in Nevada are looking a lot better but I've done zero research on where to go. Something like Coyote Gulch could be an option too. What about The Henry's or Boulder Mountain?

Thoughts?

Time is of the essence as we planned to depart first thing in the AM.
 
This was our original plan:

[parsehtml]
<iframe width="850" height="700" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&amp;msid=214533597045798101523.0004c40bb161ee100d07f&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=p&amp;ll=43.038281,-109.669991&amp;spn=0.175654,0.291481&amp;z=12&amp;output=embed"></iframe><br /><small>View <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&amp;msid=214533597045798101523.0004c40bb161ee100d07f&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=p&amp;ll=43.038281,-109.669991&amp;spn=0.175654,0.291481&amp;z=12&amp;source=embed" style="text-align:left">Winds with Audra - July 5, 2012</a> in a larger map</small>
[/parsehtml]
 
Hmm being stranded in a rain storm with ones wife with nothing to do.... Hmm... Are you taking the dogs? If not I can only see good things coming from this! I think as long as you are content to potentially sit for hours in a tent and don't have to get in x amount of miles in a day winds and or Uintas are possible! Then again coyote is always a blast!
 
Can someone. Do me a favor? I'm on the road to Pinedale and I need a link to the point forecast I posted a screenshot of above. I can load the forecast for Pinedale but can't click on the google map to get the point forecast up by Seneca, Cook Lakes, etc. a link to that would be so awesome...
 
general info tip for southern utah: in the nearly 5 years i have lived down here in Boulder UT, rains come like clockwork, with virga clouds moving in on the first days of July & first rains coming religiously on the 4th of July (actually, whatever day the Boulder Talent show at the Boulder Mountain Lodge occurs, which was the 3rd this year. I'm beginning to wonder if the event might be an unconscious rain dance of some sort ;) ).
then comes a couple of weeks of off & on rain followed by predictable storms starting around noon or 1pm on Boulder mountain almost daily, with cells moving over the HITRR & Straight Cliffs area as well.(there is a tendency for there to be a rain gap between the Escalante River & the north end of the drainages most of the time).
those patterns then tend to last through mid september with some sunny breaks thrown in the mix.
feels so good to finally get some rain down here!
right now we are overcast and rainclouds are building on the mountain as i write this.
 
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