Re: third death
Posted by Farmer Dean on August 20, 2004 at 12:26:19:
In Reply to: Re: third death posted by Old Historian on August 20, 2004 at 11:00:56:
Dear OH; Heavens no every road in the Park shouldn't be closed everytime it looks like rain. You don't need T.V. or radio to get up to the minute weather. Satellite or Internet puts you in touch real time and everyone in D.V. doesn't need it, just the Ranger Station.
I know the Park is huge, and I don't think someone coming in the South Pass to Saline needs to be warned by the NPS. Those backcountry people are pretty weather savvy and don't look to others for help.
I do think that mostly clueless Visitors to highly populated areas of the Valley, especially those areas which are prone to flooding, should be warned.
190 is historically a problem during heavy rain. It's a few miles above the Ranger Station. Send a Ranger up the road with a yellow slicker and a flashlite for an hour or two, until the danger subsides. This type of rain event, in a potentially life threatening area does not happen 7 days a week. Man power and resourses would not be stretched thin chasing down a few thunderstorms every year.
I don't know how other Parks in NPS do it, but they seem to have extremely aggressive thunderstorm watches in the areas which would cause harm or death to visitors.
You know how in the Midwest they have all those people that chase tornados? Maybe we could get some volunteers to chase thundercells in DV. Work in conjunction with the NPS or get empowered by them and help some unsuspecting visitors. By what I've seen in some posts, if you carried a video camera with you, one might end up with some valuable footage.FD.