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Before you read on, please remember that this report (wind, snow and events, year round, almost every day – WOW!) is brought to you free of charge. It’s my hobby, but it’s valuable to you, and I put it out here free so you can make the most of your free time. But there are five times as many people using the forecast for free as there are making donations. We all know windsurfers and kiters and skiers can make a small donation to keep a good thing going. So we’re trying something through Labor Day. You can get this forecast as an email for $12. That gets you in the running for a few prizes here and there, and from now on it’ll give you consistency (on the 98% of days I write a forecast. Admit it, that’s pretty amazing for one chick working by herself!). Here’s the scoop: If I get donations totaling $15 or more on a given day, I’ll post a forecast the next day. If not, only the people on the mailing list get the forecast. Thanks for understanding that I have to make a living, and thank you for your support!
Tomorrow’s forecast status: 
Updated 12:49pm (that was one hell of a bike ride this morning). Thank you for your donations!
Today’s going to another hot one. Even though it was hot here yesterday, Portland was worse, with a new record high of 102 at Portland airport. According to Hood River Weather, we topped out at a cool 98 degrees yesterday. The highest temp I saw at HOXO was 96. Our previous record was 100, so no new record for us. Today should be just a bit cooler, but quite a bit muggier, making for another hot one in the Gorge.
How much muggier? Yesterday we were hovering around 13% humidity at 98 degrees. Right now we’re at 70% at 59 degrees. The forecast for today is 30ish% at 90 degrees. That’s going to feel really sticky. Could be worse, though.
Models give us light east wind this morning, switching back to light west wind mid-afternoon. Then the models are convinced we’ll see 17-21, maybe even 21-24 from Stevenson to The Dalles early this evening. I’m going to hedge my bets and say we’ll see 17-21 in Stevenson and 15-18 in Hood River before dark.
Overnight tonight, we’ll see a brief period of strong west wind (and a chance of thunderstorms), but models show the strong wind quickly fading tomorrow, giving us dawn patrol at 24-27 and westerlies at 15-18 for the rest of the day. Why won’t the wind stick around? Well, the wind coming in this afternoon/evening/tonight is driven by a marine push and temp gradient, but tomorrow, the gradient will be fighting the low pressure center offshore.
With a low pressure system hanging off the coast on Tuesday, we’ll see light wind through the Gorge until afternoon, when the west wind picks up to 15-18. That low finally moves east of us Tuesday night, setting the Gorge up for dawn patrol at 25-29+ on Wednesday with 24-28 the rest of the day.
In events today, there’s the Larch Mountain Time Trial, a complete sufferfest of road biking with 3800 feet of climbing over just 13.7 miles. Best of luck to all the local racers competing. That sounds like a fun ride… on a cool day. Not on a day when Portland is going to hit 90ish with high humidity.
Coming up tomorrow, there’s the Barrett Park conditional use permit appeal meeting at 6pm at 601 State in Hood River. Be there to show support for your side. No testimony will be taken, but your presence will be noted. Also tomorrow, free Tai Chi at Wilson Park in Hood River, and the Alternative Ride leaving Mountain View Cycles at 6:30.
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
