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Good morning!
Oh geez. Imagine that. It’s snowing in the Gorge again. If you’re enjoying this, and you enjoyed the last storm, you’ll love the rest of today. Snow will switch to freezing rain, and with .5”+ of water value headed this way, everything will be slippery soon. NOAA calls this a “wintry mix.” I call it pretty!
If you’re headed to the mountain, be forewarned with this. It’s snowing right now, but there’s a good chance we’ll see some rain around midmorning to midday at HRM and the MHM base lodge, as well as at Skibowl (although Skibowl’s location in a pass might help keep the precipitation frozen. We’ll also see increasing winds to 20g40mph. Why do I think it will rain? Current radiosonde readings show a low-level inversion and above-freezing air to about 9000 feet. Snow levels run about 1000 feet below freezing levels, but even with evaporative cooling, it’s a lot to ask of Mother Nature to keep the snow level at 5250 feet today.
Wow. That got technical.
Here’s the simpler version. It’s snowing now. It’s probably going to warm up and snain/rain at 5500’ and lower. If it doesn’t do that by 1pm, it’s going to stay snow. Lots of snow. 8-10” by 4pm. Another 8-10” overnight. Skip work tomorrow and ski. It doesn’t look like we’ll see bluebird tomorrow, but it should be light wind and decent visilibility.
Also, stay out of the backcountry. This is an upside-down storm falling on a weak layer of hoar on top, cold, light snow in the middle, and faceted snow underneath. It’s an avy mess in the making. Be glad Heather isn’t open, because it wouldn’t be open today.
For the rest of the week, we’ll see light snowfall Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and clearing Sunday, assuming the forecast holds. And we all know that’s a lot to assume.
Don’t forget about the 2nd Wind / USASA Rail Jam in downtown Hood River on Saturday. It’s going to be sick, dude!
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
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