Future Trip

[James Gang]

I am considering a long trip this September and October (56 + days). Heading straight north from Austin to Badlands NP, Custer area, Devils Tower and T Roosevelt NP. Then heading to Glacier NP for a few days. From there heading north to Banff and Jasper NP's. After that going to North Cascades NP, Crater Lake, Arches, Canyonlands and Mesa Verde National Parks. On to Santa Fe for a few days and then southeast to home. My question is, how is the weather in Glacier, Banff, Jasper and North Cascades in late September and early to mid October? I am just in the "thinking about it" stage right now. My Bucket List.

[gbaglo]

If you go to https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-99_metric_e.html and then to "Access City", type in Banff ( for instance ). Then scroll down until you see "Historical Weather". Click on that and select the year and month.

I entered October 2019 so I can see actual weather for last year.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by James Gang

I am considering a long trip this September and October (56 + days). Heading straight north from Austin to Badlands NP, Custer area, Devils Tower and T Roosevelt NP. Then heading to Glacier NP for a few days. From there heading north to Banff and Jasper NP's. After that going to North Cascades NP, Crater Lake, Arches, Canyonlands and Mesa Verde National Parks. On to Santa Fe for a few days and then southeast to home. My question is, how is the weather in Glacier, Banff, Jasper and North Cascades in late September and early to mid October? I am just in the "thinking about it" stage right now. My Bucket List.

We were in Jasper , Banff , Glacier NP , Custer , Roosevelt NP , Devils Tower and the Badlands about 3 years ago in mid September to early October . ( Total of about 25 days) Weather was not an issue , warm days and slightly cool nights were the norm .

4 years ago we visited Utah , the Arches , Dead Horse Canyon , and Canyon land in September and the weather was okay , a little too warm for my liking but tolerable

Idaho , Washington and Oregon are really nice in the Fall IMHO

[UncleTim]

I know this!


Some years you will have no problem at all. Maybe a little rain and snow up in the high peaks. Sunshine everywhere else.

Other years you can get the first snow in September and have temperature drops into the mid twenties. Or worse.


It's really a question of the individual year and how the storms are tracking. Sometimes storms don't really get into high gear until November.


So it's a calculated risk. That is late in the year for so high in latitude to be sure. My guess is you will get cold temperatures if nothing else.


Note of interest: Often times in Yellowstone, a storm will come thru in mid September and chase most people away. That can be a photographer's dream.

[h2owmn]

You might consider going to the farthest north sites first and working your way south. .

[salmo7000]

If you’d rather not deal with potential cold and snow, I would avoid Glacier, Banff, Jasper, and North Cascades NPs in October. There is more than a discountable risk you will encounter these conditions. This past fall in central Idaho, at far lower elevation, we had temps drop into the low 20s the last week in September. As I recall there were winter storm warnings in Glacier NP and surrounding areas. Of course, just because it happened last year does not mean it will happen this year. And in some years, summer does seem to drag on into mid October. But I wouldn’t bet on it, especially not at higher elevations. For sure, you would want to have a 4WD tow vehicle and carry chains, just in case. At least that’s what I would do!

[emers382]

As others have said it's taking a chance at that time. We were in Banff May7-9 2017 and the weather was cool but sunny. Glenn has posted those early October temperatures for Banff last year. What that doesn't show is that the last few days of September were very cool, highs just below and just above freezing. I checked October of 2017 and it was completely different, highs for the first six days ranged from 8-21C.