I'm not sure how the weather reacts in different area's in Washington, and Oregon. I believe Ralph was flying around the supposed dropzone? if so is it possible the weather was much different in that area vs 10 miles away. Dona, also commented on bad weather in this area?
Florida is much different, so I see strange weather constantly. I've seen it rain many times on the opposite side of the highway, and down at the end of streets. I can be on the top of a high-rise building and see rain in different locations just a half mile away.
Is it possible that we are dealing with different weather situations vs a myth, or someone lying about the weather that evening?
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Dona Elliott has said on several occasions that the weather at Ariel on 11/24/71 was terrible -- it was an all-out storm. She has never changed her story. And I believe Ralph Himmelsbach too. Why would he not be forthcoming about that? It's in his book, I think he described the weather as "rotten" that night -- or was it DBC being a dirty, ROTTEN scoundrel? I forget. In any event....RH was flying around that night, he was there. I thought he was in a helicopter trying to keep up with 305 that night.
I don't really know, because I was elsewhere -- the weather in the Columbia River Gorge, 75 miles east of Portland, was the worst storm I've ever experienced in the Gorge, before or since. We probably shouldn't have even been driving that night -- the wind blew us all over the road, and the unrelenting rain made visibility next to zero. It was a real challenge just keeping control of the car.
I will have to take the word of some people about the weather that night -- others, maybe not. But here we go again...as with most everything else Cooper, we can't even come to a consensus on the weather!
When we left Newberg, OR that night (I recall it was still daylight when we pulled out of town, but it felt dark because of the looming dark clouds) -- the weather was nothing out of the ordinary at that time, but you could tell a storm was a brewin'.
Meyer
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REPLY ......... ONCE AGAIN FORMATTING IS SCREWED UP HERE OUT OF MY CONTROL!
Hominid looked at the weather data and concluded there was enough variability over the entire region of the flight path, that regional variability and micro climate cells could not be ruled out - and in fact he thought he had identified a few examples ..... during the hours of the hijacking.
Regional variability is a fact of life in weather in this whole region due mainly to multiple Cascade effects especially in the Fall of the year. That point is not debatable! You are not allowed to view links.
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LoginThere is a direct relationship between weather variability and topography within even small regions. The flight path flew through a high number of such localised regions (as noted by Hominid and others).
There was no single stagnant weather pattern through the whole area of the flight path that day! Even Ckret's weather data dispels that notion, as noted by Hominid.Again variability is related to the topological regions (Cascade western side) the flight path flew through, and here is a sectional chart showing that complex array of topographical regions with the allegfed flight path just to the west of these regions and in some cases within those regions.
Otherwise you might as well call everyone who gave diverse weather reports in different areas, liars !
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