Good morning, and happy sunny day!
The forecast this week is brought to you Hood River’s best sail repair shop, Sail Repair at 13 Oak Street. Drop your sails off today, so they’re ready for the return of the big west winds by this weekend. Give Olaf (aka Ovetchkin) a call at 806-3117 (HR area code) to get him your sail by 5pm, and he’ll have it fixed by tomorrow at 9am. Olaf is the man, and he’ll make your sail as good as new! Anyway, two of the mailing list subscribers are going to win $65 sail repair gift certificates this week!
Now, the forecast…
It’s another light wind start this morning in the Gorge, but the gradient is already at .05 from Portland to The Dalles, and will slowly build today. By early afternoon, we’ll have 12-15 from Stevenson to Hood River, building to 16-19 this evening in the central Gorge as a system approaches the coast.
That system crosses the Cascades tonight, leaving behind low clouds in Portland tomorrow morning. Westerlies near Hood River tomorrow start off in the 21-24 range, building quickly to 24-27 by midday from Stevenson as far east as Maryhill.
It looks like we’ll see more marine clouds Saturday morning, for continued west winds in the Gorge, likely in the 22-25 range. It’s still a few days out, but Sunday looks quite windy.
Boaters, the White Salmon’s hovering around 2 ¾ feet and the Klickitat’s still around 1500 cfs. Ishy-Pishy is super fun right now, and so is the entire Lower. If I was better at boating, I’d give you the report on some of the other rivers, but alas, I’m not!
In other news, it’s Thursday, and that means it’s time to ride Post Canyon with the dirty fingers crew. Meet at the shop at 5:30 for mountain biking and mountain biker social hour. Because it’s Third Thursday, there’s free sunset yoga at Hood River’s Waterfront Park. Class starts at 8:00 sharp. Also tonight, at the Columbia Center for the Arts, is Doug Ammons’ presentation, Wildwater, a Love story, video, stories and photos of whitewater boating and the love of rivers. That presentation is $10 for general admission and $8 for students, and starts at 8pm. I’ll be there, despite having to get up tomorrow at 5am, and I recommend you go too!
Coming up Saturday Hood River Community Ed presents the movie “UP” at Jackson Park in Hood River, outdoors, on the big screen, starting around dusk. Movies in the Park is always fun, and we need a lot of people to show up or Community Ed will think we don’t care. Grab your family and a picnic and join in the fun on Saturday night (I believe these events are alcohol/drug free, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t fun)…
One last thing, the tree that was down in Post Canyon’s Toilet Bowl was removed yesterday, so the downhill, if not exactly safe (what downhill is?), is clear of downed trees (but not roots, rocks, people, loose soil, manmade features or other hazards).
That’s it for today. Whatever you do today, have an awesome day!
P.S. If you find this report valuable, or you’d rather get it in your inbox, click below for a suggested $10 donation. I’ll put you on the mailing list through the end of May, 2011, and you’ll be in the running for some awesome prizes from the weekly sponsors.
