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Grand Canyon Weather
Fri Jul 25, 2003
Listen in RealAudio 
Each year, nearly 5 million folks from all over the world visit the Grand Canyon. Because of
its depth, averaging about a mile, the Canyon's weather can be challenging, as Supervisory
Ranger Chuck Wahlert pointed out from the South Rim.
CHUCK: Well, overall it's a very mild climate - it doesn't get real hot nor does it, generally
speaking, get real cold. I don't think it's ever hit 100 degrees at the rim of the canyon.
The record low is something like 20 below zero Fahrenheit, but it doesn't get that cold very
often.
BRYAN: But people still get in trouble here due to the weather. How does that happen?
CHUCK: Well, they get in trouble because there's tremendous variation. We're here on the rim
at 7,000 feet, the river is 4600 feet below us. Most of the problems people have are
associated with hot weather in the summer. It'll be as much as 20 degrees hotter at the
river. It can be 120 in the shade and there doesn't tend to be a lot of shade at the
bottom.
BRYAN: So you get a lot of heat exhaustions and some heat strokes?
CHUCK: Heat related problems and also a problem called hyponatremia where people will drink
water, particularly, but not eat particularly salty foods so they'll have a salt imbalance and
that can create problems very quickly.
BRYAN: I also hear a lot of people talking about the lightning hazard here.
CHUCK: We get monsoons here so in the summertime we get about half of our precipitation as
thunder showers in the summer and a lot of lightning associated with that. So generally not a
good idea to be out along the rim in the summer when the thunderheads are building.
The Weather Notebook is supported By Subaru of America, and The National Science Foundation.
Today's Links
Weather in the Canyon:
http://www.nps.gov/grca/grandcanyon/trip_planner/weather.htm
Hyponatremia:
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=3859&rd=1
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