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12/22 Forecast



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Good morning!

Good morning, and happy second day of winter to you! Wintry, cloudy, mix preicipation kind of weather continues this week in the Gorge. As a matter of fact, the near-freezing temperatures will continue through Sunday morning, giving us a cold, wet, sloppy mix of frozen and partially frozen water falling form the sky until the end of the weekend. We’ll see a couple of inches today and then trace amounts tomorrow, and an unknown situation on Saturday into Sunday, due to model uncertainties.

Yes, a white Christmas is looking likely in the Gorge.

Same goes for the mountains.

But before I get into the forecast, I want to ask all of you to mentally direct the jet stream over our heads. Right now it’s slamming into California (where Mammoth has received 15 feet of snow since last Friday) and then heading straight up the coast. That means we’re getting brushed by weather systems, not hammered by them. No, don’t worry, changing the jet stream won’t bury the Gorge in snow, but it will bury the mountain.

Okay, during the day today, the mountain will see snow flurries and fog. Another reason to move the jet stream is that it will limit fog on Mt. Hood. We’ll get 2-3” of snow today, mostly falling before 7pm, with winds at 10-20 out of the southwest.

Tomorrow brings some light snow flurries midday, with 2” or so of accumulation. Winds will be out of the SSW at 10-15.

Friday morning looks dry on the hill, with above-freezing temperatures and south winds at 15-20. There is a chance the storm track will shift far enough east to bring rain or snow to Mt. Hood, but that looks unlikely at this point.

At this point, the weekend forecast is uncertain. Models are all over the place with the storm track. Some put it far enough off the coast to keep the Coast Range very wet and the Cascades dry, and some models move it far enough inland to drench (or bury, depending on temperatures) the Cascades as well.

Mammoth Mountain sucks for stealing our La Nina dumping. 15 feet in 4 days. That’s just not fair! Come on Mother Nature… send that stuff our way!

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

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By Temira

Temira Lital is a recreation and travel weather forecaster based in Hood River, Oregon. Temira uses they/them pronouns. They're also a mental health counselor. Temira bikes, skis, windsurfs, paddles a SUP, swims in mountain lakes, and loves gardening. Most recently they've taken up SUP foiling. Temira is powered by La Croix, protein, and beets.