No Bars, No Forecast? Not Quite

Most places I walk in Tasmania have no phone coverage. Sure, there might be the odd pocket of signal on a high point, but I never plan around it, and I never count on it being there when I need it.

That means the forecast you checked in the car park is often the last one you'll see. On a day walk, that's fine. On a walk of a week or more, it's out of date before you've had your first proper dinner. I like to have some idea of what I’m in for and while a forecast isn’t always reliable, it’s always part of my preparation. And in Tasmania, the weather doesn't wait for you to get back into range.

So I've had to find other ways. Here’s the three I’m using now.

If you’d like to support the newsletter, then please show today’s sponsor some ❤️. A single click on the ad really helps us out!

The best part of a trip might be when your phone loses service. 

With the ZOLEO Satellite Communicator and its companion app, you can send messages beyond cell coverage, share your location, and keep the people who matter part of the journey. An “I’m OK” check-in message from camp. An update when plans change. A little reassurance for everyone back home. 

Make staying connected part of your packing list. Save 20% on a regularly priced ZOLEO Satellite Communicator with code CONNECT20.

Claim my 20% off

Not valid on sale-priced devices or with other discounts. Valid outside promotional sale periods.

I carry a Garmin inReach Mini 2 on my walks, and it can pull down a weather forecast for where you are, even with no phone coverage at all. I've used it on trips to decide whether to climb a peak or walk out early. That's not a small thing when the cloud is sitting low and you're not sure whether to commit.

The forecast is short and to the point. It's not the detailed picture you'd get at home, but it tells you what the next couple of days are likely to do, and that's usually the decision you're making and I’ve found it to be reasonably accurate.

If you carry one, check what your plan includes before you go, and try a forecast at home so you know how it works. The time to figure out where the weather function lives is not at camp in the rain.

The other way is to ask a person, and that works better than it sounds.

My wife can message me through the inReach, so if I want to know more, I can ask her to look at the forecast and send back the bits I need. These days I also have Starlink messaging straight to my phone through Telstra (Australian phone network). It works extremely well in Tasmania, but I treat it as a backup only.

If you do this, ask for something specific. Wind, rain and snow for the next two days is far easier to answer from a phone at home than "what's the weather doing?" A short question gets a short, useful answer, and there's less room for something important to get lost in the reply.

It helps to set this up before you leave, too. Tell them you might ask, and agree on where they'll look, so they're not searching through five different weather sites when you check in. A bit of prep at home makes the whole thing work more reliably out there.

Even with a forecast in hand, the sky gets the final say.

Watch the cloud, which way the wind is coming from, and whether it's building or easing. When what you're seeing doesn't match the forecast you were given, believe what you're seeing. The forecast tells you what was expected. The sky tells you what's actually happening.

None of this replaces a forecast. It tells you whether the forecast is still right.

This is the part that matters most, and the part people most often miss.

On a 26-day loop in south-west Tasmania, the best decision we made was to do absolutely nothing, three times. Early in the trip, the weather near Federation Peak was genuinely awful, and one of us had a sore knee. So we camped and waited. We spent around 3 days camped out around the peak until the storm cleared. It wasn't a dramatic call and there was nothing clever about it. We just had enough room in the plan to sit still, so we did.

That's what people miss when they ask how to get a better forecast. A perfect forecast is no use if your plan has no room to listen to it. If you can't sit out a bad day, you'll end up walking into it, however much warning you had. The flexibility has to be built in before you leave, not made up on the spot when the weather turns.

Pick your way of getting weather once the phone stops working. If you carry a satellite messenger, try a forecast on it this week, at home, before you need it. If you don't, line up one person who'll look up the weather for you and get back to you, and agree on what you'll ask for.

Then check your plan has at least one spot where you could stop for a day if the weather says so. Not everywhere, and not every day, just one place where a pause wouldn't cost you the whole trip.

Get those two things sorted and the forecast becomes something you can act on, not just something to worry about.

THAT’S ALL FOR THIS WEEK

Thanks for reading Mowser’s Musings. I hope this helps you hike further and happier.

Until next week, keep exploring.

Mowser

Discover more. Hike further.

P.S. We still have spots available for our Patagonia trip in January 2028. I would love for you to join us. Check out the details here.

Only want the monthly roundup, or fewer emails? Change your email settings here.