Good morning,
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**Breaking news: the ODF regulated use closure goes into effect this morning. Starting now, through the end of fire season, motorcycles and ATVs are prohibited on forest lands, except on roads. ATVS and motorcycles must have an approved spark arrestor. Cars and trucks traveling on forest lands must carry EITHER a shovel and gallon of water or a 2.5lb fire extinguisher. Thank you for protecting our forest from fires!**
Starting tomorrow afternoon, we’re in for a wild ride, with a week of “Classic Gorge Setup.” That means we’ll have strong high pressure over the Pacific Ocean and some sort of low pressure in the Oregon and Washington desert. With the gradient trying to equalize over hundreds of miles, we end up with strong wind. It’s not about the temps, which will be in the 80’s. It’s about the gradient from way out west to way out east. And that gradient is going to be big. (Unless the outlier models predicting thunderstorms are correct, but I’m just ignoring them.)
But that’s tomorrow. Today we’ll see 15-18, building to 17-20 from Stevenson to Mosier in the afternoon. Tomorrow starts with 10-15, but it’ll build to 22-25 in the afternoon. On Friday, we’ll start with 24-28, so be prepared to grab your garbage cans right after the garbage guys get to them. Saturday looks like 24-28. Sunday brings 26-30, and if the forecast holds for Monday, we’re looking at 30-35+. All the wind this week and weekend should be centralized around Hood River and the Rowena stretch of the river, with the exception of Sunday, when it will be windy everywhere.
Tonight’s a special night in Post Canyon. Families at Family Man has some free lessons and shuttling on Bad Motor Scooter for kids. If your kid is an intermediate mountain biker, bring him or her up to Family Man around 5:30 to get in on the fun. I want to get in on that, because I want to learn about cornering and riding downhill. For those of you who are lost in Post Canyon, there’s now an iPhone app. You can get more information at HrATS.org.
Don’t forget: this weekend is Kiteboarding for Cancer. It’s really not just for wind people. It’s for everyone who hates cancer. So if you want to help out, drop off cookies sometime between 8am and 11am on Saturday at the Event Site. For more information, check out KB4C.org.
Have an awesome day today!
Temira