Thanks for being here all summer for the wind forecast. It’s fall now, and that means it’s time for … more windsurfing and kiting! No, it’s time to think about skiing.
You can get the best darned Mt. Hood snow forecast right here, all winter long.
That’s right. Don’t stop coming just because the water’s cold. The snow forecast starts when the snow starts falling, and stops late in May. Use my snow forecast. Tell your friends to use it. And if you or your friends think this service is awesome/useful/saves you gas money/helps you find more fun in your life, pretty please make a donation by clicking the sun below. Is more fun worth $50/year? $20/year? Donate what it’s worth to you, but $12 minimum gets you on the email list (with occasional giveaways) for a year. Thank you for your support, and happy fun chasing!
Random Morning Thoughts
Mabo Ramen Express weather equals Mabo Ramen at Kaze Sushi in Hood River tonight. My favorite food, hands down. Except for sushi. Gift cards accepted at PO Box 841 in Hood River. 😉
Wind and weather and Mt. Hood snow levels (no, no snow amounts yet)
I have to admit that the wind forecast has been incredibly boring to write for the last couple of weeks. Things are officially interesting today. As we sit in the gloom, awaiting the real storm to hit this evening, we’ll be under a light east gradient. I call that “anticipation”.
First, I have to say, there’s a 50/50 chance the wind field will hit after dark today. That said… As a (quoting NOAA) rare/major/dynamic/impressive frontal system approaches this afternoon, we’ll see light, inconsistent, up-and-down 10-15 in the central Gorge with 30-40+ at Arlington and Threemile, sometime after 2pm. I’m not sure if Maryhill will get in on the action. Given how cloudy it looks on the Maryhill webcams this morning, I’m guessing you’ll have to drive further east, assuming that prefrontal wind field hits before dark (unlikely).
Tomorrow gets even more interesting: the remnants of typhoon Pabuk hit Washington or Vancouver in the afternoon, setting up a very good scenario for the eastern beaches. There’s a better chance of Maryhill getting in on the action tomorrow, but Arlington/Threemile are safer calls, likely after 2pm. Expect westerlies at 30-35. As the low center (currently at an impressive 971mb) moves further inland early Monday, get your ass out of bed and go to Arlington to catch 30-35 for a few hours. Let me know if you want to carpool. I’m leaving early, and I have to be back by 3pm, by which time the wind will have died.
Snow levels with this action movie of a weather system will be 9000’+ today, 7000′ tomorrow morning, 10000′ tomorrow evening, and 5500′ Monday morning.
| Your favorite beach | Dawn Patrol |
9am- 11:30a |
11:30a- 3pm |
3pm- dusk |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your favorite beach | Dawn Patrol |
9am- 11:30a |
11:30a- 3pm |
3pm- dusk |
|
| Steven’s Locks | light | light | W 5-10 | W 5-10 | |
| Hatch (subtract a few mph for Event Site) | light | light | W 5-10 | W 11-15 late |
|
| Doug’s / Rowena / Lyle | light | light | W 5-10 | W 11-15 late |
|
| Maryhill / Rufus / The Wall | 5-10 | 5-10 | 11-15 | ??? | |
| Arlington / Roosevelt | light | light | 15-18 | 30-40 late |
|
The Clymb: free membership. Cheap gear. Temira approves. Click to join.
Plain old weather
On to actual weather news: We’ve already had .41” of rain since midnight. The record today is .75”. Goodbye, record. You can watch the totals rise at Hood River Weather.
With the tropical-moisture-filled jet stream centered on the Columbia River, and the Cascades pushing moisture out of the clouds, we’re going to get drenched tonight. As the front hits around 8pm, we’re going to see torrential and biblical (there’s that word again) rain and a very good chance of strong thunderstorms along the frontal line. Could be… interesting times.
If you want to get less wet (or even possibly stay dry), go outside between noon and 5pm today. We’ll see probably an inch of rain tonight and a … LOT … of rain tomorrow, especially tomorrow night as that low center moves inland.
Stuff happening tonight, this weekend, and other stuff too
Mountain bikers, please stay off all the bike trails: if you ride when it’s this muddy, you will do significant damage to the trail tread, and that forces us trailbuilders and volunteers to spend time and energy repairing when we could be building new trail. I was in Post at 2pm yesterday, and it was already too wet to ride. I was sad. And glad I was walking, not riding.
Mountain bikers, please stay off all the bike trails: if you ride when it’s this muddy, you will do significant damage to the trail tread, and that forces us trailbuilders and volunteers to spend time and energy repairing when we could be building new trail. I was in Post at 2pm yesterday, and it was already too wet to ride. I was sad. And glad I was walking, not riding.
Stay tuned for lots of trail work parties now that the dirt’s wet. You can get the info at the Hood River Area Trail Stewards Facebook Page. We’re an IMBA chapter, and we’d love to have you as a member and/or a trail fairy.
Local rivers are already responding to this rain: The Hood River came in overnight: It’s at 4.99′. The Klickitat’s not rising as fast: it’s at 757cfs, and “in” for me is over 850cfs. The White Salmon doesn’t have an online gauge, but it tends to respond more slowly. NOAA’s model says the Hood is going to 6.89 by Monday. I think that’s a bit conservative. A lot conservative, actually. Boaters, have fun and be safe!
For events this weekend, we have the Echelon Gran Fondo bike ride this morning. To me, that sounds wet. Also today, there’s a weeding party at the Waterfront park from 9 to 4, there’s Hops Fest (aka “Temira’s worst nightmare” – tons of wet people crowded underneath tents, talking about beer – why, oh why isn’t there a chocolate fest or truffle fest here in town instead?), and tonight there’s the Hoedown, a fundraiser for Cooper Spur Race Team with a mechanical bull and awesome silent auction – tickets are available at Waucoma Books.
Don’t forget about free museum day at Maryhill today. You must have a ticket, which you can get here. Seems like a great day for looking at art.
Coming up tomorrow, Gorgeowned has a sense of place lecture on rafts on the White Salmon River. Should be exciting with all this rain coming in. That river, even though it’s a slow riser, is going to go from quite low to quite flowy very quickly.
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
