Good morning!

This week’s report is brought to you by the Gorge Surf Shop at 13 Oak Street in downtown Hood River. The Gorge Surf Shop has the best windsurfing gear: Fanatic and Tabou boards, and Gaastra and Maui Sails. Why should you shop there? Because all the employees are well-educated hardcore windsurfers who can use their brainpower to make sure you end up with the right gear. Swing by and say hello to Darko, Transatlantic, Garrison, Recently and Slice, and maybe, if you’re lucky, Scotty will give you a nickname of your own!

I had a few people tell me earlier this summer that the Gorge was broken. If it was, it’s fixed now, as you can see by the whitecaps on the river again this morning. With the 5am gradient at .11 and the wind already in the upper teens through the whole gorge, it’s going to be another windy one on the river. 23-26 from Viento to Hood River fills in from Stevenson to Doug’s this afternoon.

Coming up Thursday, it’s another big windsurfing day in the eastern Gorge, as a low pressure trough sits in the desert and strong high pressure holds at the coast. Dawn Patrol in the low twenties from Hood River to Doug’s builds to 28-32 from Hood River eastward in the afternoon.

It looks like the wind will be light Friday, so Nate from Dog River Coffee will have a chance to read a newspaper in his yard without folding it up like origami (the newspaper, not the yard). On Friday night, the amazing Daphne Willis plays at the Sandbar Café at the Hood River Event Site, so even if it’s not windy, there will still be something to do on the waterfront.

At this point, it looks like we’ll see east winds on Saturday and calm winds on Sunday, with a chance of thunderstorms due to southerly upper flow from an upper level low off the California coast.

Boaters, the Klickitat’s at 1170 cfs and the White Salmon’s at 2.3 feet. If you’re hoping for windless Klickitat, you’ll have it on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Don’t forget about the Kayak Shed’s shop paddle, meeting at the Husum put-in at 5:30 tonight. That’s followed by pizza and beer… somewhere.

Temira

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