Today I misjudged the weather. I generally pride myself on my ability to predict and avoid bad weather but I definitely got it wrong. We went out for a short hike at the MDC’s reservoir off of Farmington Ave in West Hartford today. There is a paved road that goes around the perimeter of the resevoir complex with some nice views and shade along the way. It was in the high 40’s with some intermittent light wind and cloud cover. There were some not so pleasant looking clouds to the west but only some spotty showers a half hour or so out on radar. I use the “Raindar” app and it gives up to the minute radar information including identifying and giving projected course and speed of any severe storm cells. I figured we would hike out for 15 minutes and head right back to the lot before the rain hit. 15 minutes into our hike I felt a rain drop and I immediately knew that I had misinterpreted the weather information in front of me. We immediately turned around and headed back to the lot. I thought, “Looks like we’re going to get wet, lets put up the stroller’s sunshade and speed up to keep from soaked.” The clouds darkened and the temperature dropped a good 5 degrees as we made our way through a pine stand to the first bridge. Then the sky opened up and started chucking little chunks of ice at us.
Oscar thought it was hilarious and started trying to catch them in his mouth.
Edgar was less amused and asked for the blanket. They were both all smiles after a few more minutes of this ridiculous tiny ice ball barrage but I have to admit to being a bit freaked out at first.
I checked the barometer on my watch and realized that I should have seen this coming and called off the hike. We’ve been cooped up all week and I didn’t have the heart to tell them we weren’t going once we got to the lot. Thankfully it wasn’t a more severe storm and we were all safe but I will have to make sure to look at all sources of weather data the next time the conditions are at all questionable.
CT Hiker Dad 