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3/19 Mt. Hood snow (mixed precip, actually), Gorge nukin’ wind, and a not-to-be-missed event at Columbia Center for the Arts

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Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
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Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday

Good morning,

There are very, very exciting things happening this week. For example, there’s the Hood River County Recreation Trails Committee meeting tomorrow night at the OSU extension center at 5pm. Woohoo! Coming up tomorrow, though, there is something exciting, no sarcasm here: Charlie Munsey presents River Light, 25 years on the water, at Columbia Center for the Arts. Don’t miss this show – Charlie is an incredible photographer, and has been all over the world creating images of rivers and the people around them.

Next, my friend Scotty’s kid Tristan is going to DC for the Close Up program. Scott’s one of our hard-working lift maintenance guys at Meadows. He fixes the lifts for you when they break, and he climbs those towers and knocks off ice during storm recovery. Here’s a way you can say “thanks”! Scott’s kid is a bit short of his fundraising goal, so if you could take the time to make a small donation (it’s tax-deductible) and help him out, I’d sure appreciate it. Simply go to Close Up’s website, click on ‘Donate’ and select ‘Sponsor A Student.’ Enter Tristan’s participant ID: 1035131. Thanks for considering it.

In weather news, the Gorge is entering summer. Not temp wise, don’t get me wrong, but wind-wise. Today starts with temps in the low 30’s. Clouds increase this afternoon, and temps rise to the upper 40’s. We’ll see east wind at 30+ at Stevenson and Rooster, with light east wind elsewhere under clear sky becoming cloudy later with lots of rain tonight. There is a **slight** chance of freezing rain in the upper valley tonight.

Wednesday starts with pouring rain, becoming showery later. Temps will be in the mid-40’s early and mid-50’s in the afternoon. The wind will be light to start, increasing to steady W 30+ east of Hood River in the afternoon, with gusty 18-23 in the Central Gorge.

Thursday looks clear in the Gorge with temps in the low 30’s early and mid-40’s in the afternoon. The wind will be W 21-24 early, picking up to steady W 30-35 east of Hood River in the afternoon. Other than the cold, Thursday is going to be a great day on the water. Friday looks like a repeat of Thursday, with slightly less west wind at 23-26.


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Watch out for frost on Thursday and Friday mornings.

Up on Mt. Hood, things are about to get very, very interesting. We start with clear sky today. High clouds move in midday. The freezing level will be 500′ early, 5000′ at 11am and 6000′ at 5pm. Precip starts around 2pm, with light precip until 5pm, when the heavens open up. Call it 1” of water value (WV) overnight, most of which will fall as rain or freezing rain, or if we’re lucky, a mix of very wet snow (aka snain) and rain. Wind will be light this morning, S 10-20 mid-morning, SW 25 at 2pm and SW 45 at 5pm.

The snow level on Wednesday starts at 6500′, but drops to 4500′ by 11am, 2000′ by 2pm and 500′ by 8pm. We’ll probably start with a mix of rain and snow, but we’ll see 1.2” WV by 5pm. That should give us 8-10” of new snow during the day. Another .4” WV falls overnight, for 4-6” of new. Wind Wednesday will be SW 55 early, SW 45 mid-morning, and a brutal W 45-50 after noon. There is also a chance of thunder/lightning late Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday brings orographic snow, with the snow level at 500′ all day. There is another chance of thunder on Thursday. Mt. Hood gets .3-.5” WV during the day, for a few more inches of snow. Snowfall picks up overnight, for another .5-.7” WV and 6-8” of new. Wind Thursday will be … windy… W 40 early, W 35 mid-morning and WNW 35 in the afternoon.

Friday looks like the bluebird day: Freezing level at the surface early and 1000′ late. No precip. Wind NW 25 early, dropping to NW 15-20 late. The weekend looks dry.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

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.