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The Forecast
| 4a-8a | 8a-12p | 12p-4p | 4p-8p | 8p-4a | |
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| Wednesday 2500′->5000′->3000′ |
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| Thursday 3000′->4000′ |
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| Friday 4000′->4500′ |
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Mt. Hood Weather Forecast
Snow keeps falling on Mt. Hood. Despite it being April, the snowpack keeps growing. Another 5” of new fell yesterday with 4” the day before. That leaves the slopes in prime packed powder condition. Nordic skiers: Teacup groomed just 5k last night, or at least that was the plan. Alpine folks: plenty of perfect packed powder corduroy and powder stashes out there for you. And guess what? More is coming!
Wednesday brings a strong cold front to the area. It’s tricky to predict exactly how much precip will fall where with this system, but it’s easy to predict the possibility of thunderstorms. Keep that in mind for your mountain adventure today. The snow level will be 2500′ this morning, 5000′ this afternoon, and 3000′ overnight. Snow starts up around 11am. About 0.3” water equivalent (WE) is forecast during the day, for 3” new snow. Another 0.4” WE is forecast overnight. That starts as dense, heavy snow and turns lighter as the night goes on. Wind: S 10-20 early, SW 10-20 in the afternoon, and SW 15-30 overnight.
Snowfall continues on Thursday, and so does the potential for afternoon thunder. The snow level will be 3000′ in the morning and 4000′ from the afternoon on through the night. About 0.4” WE falls during the day, for 3-5” new snow. Another 0.2” WE is predicted overnight, for a couple more inches of fresh. Wind: SW 15-20 in the morning, W 15 in the afternoon, and NW 5 overnight.
Friday starts mostly cloudy and turns sunny. The free air freezing level will be 4000′ in the morning and 4500-5000′ in the afternoon. Wind: NW 5 early, NW 20-25 in the afternoon, and NW 15-20 overnight. Saturday looks clear and sunny all day. The freezing level rises to 6000′ in the afternoon with variable wind to 15mph. Sunday starts dry and sunny. High clouds move in during the afternoon and drag some precip (mixed, probably) in overnight. That’s your forecast. Enjoy the deep late-season snowpack!
Note on wind speeds. Different wind directions are experienced in different ways on Mt. Hood. For example, west wind at 50mph will hit the slopes and exposed ridges at W 50. SW 50 may hit the ridges at SW 50, but will likely only be SW 20 below tree line. Hence the ranges for wind. Depends where you are on the mountain. Hopefully that helps clarify.
Gorge Wind Forecast
Offshore low pressure of some variety sticks around until midday Friday and returns again for periods after that. Atmospheric instability joins in Wednesday and Thursday and complicated the forecast. It also adds the potential for lightning. On the positive side, temps will moderate towards normal, meaning highs in the mid 50’s to low 60’s.
For Wednesday, we start with east flow and quickly add rain. Mid-morning, the wind will rise to 30-35 at Stevenson, 25-30 at Rooster, 15-20 at Viento, and 10mph east of Hood River. A front swings through this afternoon and turns the flow onshore. Light westerlies are the plan west of The Dalles. East of there: very gusty 10-30. Between the thunderstorm potential and the accompanying rain, it’s not worth the effort. River flow is 151kcfs, river temp is 46F, and high temp forecast is 53F.
Thursday starts off with light wind and rain in the west with light wind and sunshine out east. Around 9am, the wind picks up to 18-22 from Rowena to Threemile with 10-13 in the western Gorge. There could be short-lived burst of 22-25 from Rowena eastward mid-morning. Thanks to copious sunbreaks, the atmosphere destabilizes at low levels. This destroys wind quality and kicks off some afternoon thundershowers. In the evening, the wind drops to 9-13 all through the Gorge. Again, this is probably a “why bother” sort of day. High temp: 57F.
Friday starts out calm or very light westerly. High pressure strengthens offshore in the afternoon. This kicks the wind up to 22-25 from Stevenson to The Dalles with light and variable wind east of there. Wind quality will likely be worth the effort; there’s no rain forecast, and the atmosphere should stabilize. High temp: 61F. The weekend looks sunny with light to moderate westerlies Saturday and a shot at some stronger, short-lived, frontally-driven wind on Sunday. Temps will be in the 60’s. Important weekend announcement: it is Big Wind’s 35th Anniversary Sale starting Friday. In-store only. You’ll find deep discounts and a parking lot party with music, food, and beverages. Enjoy.
Coast, Jones, Coast
Done until spring, unless there’s an obvious Coast or Sauvie’s or Jones day.
Hood River Weather Forecast
Overcast sky this morning adds rain midday and a chance of thunder in the afternoon. Rain continues all night. Temps will be in the upper 30’s early and low 50’s later. Light easterlies early. Light westerlies later with the potential for strong outflow wind if thunderstorms develop. 99% chance of rainbows. Thursday will be rainy in the morning and showery in the afternoon with a chance of thunder. Temps will be near 40 early and in the upper 50’s later. Calm wind early. Light to moderate westerlies later. 99% chance of rainbows. Friday should be dry with a slight chance of sprinkles in the afternoon. Temps will be in the upper 30’s early and low 60’s later. Calm wind early. Moderate westerlies later. 1% chance of rainbows.
Looking for a complete Columbia Gorge forecast? Looking for more humor in your weather? Obscenities? You’re looking for my TATAS: Temira’s Awesome Travel Advisory Service on Facebook.
Cycling
Well. Seems that the trails are all covered in snow again! We’re also in a freeze-thaw cycle, and trails will be especially susceptible to damage with all this moisture. Don’t ride during the day if it froze last night. Cows are in at Hospital Hill. Do not park near the corral or on Spring Street. Do not take your dog on the land. When cows are there, dogs are not allowed. That means your dog, not just dogs belonging to others. Please don’t piss off the landowners by bringing your dogs – these folks let us use their land, and we owe them respect. Also, there is logging happening on Underwood. Do not enter closed areas. Post is clear to the top of Borderline, and the gate is still closed at Binn’s Hill.
Local Events
Please let me know about events. I often only hear about them if you folx let me know!
Ferment’s Tuesday night 4-mile walk/run is back. Meet there at 6pm. At 7:15am on Wednesdays, there’s a run from the White Salmon Bakery. At 7am on Friday morning, you can get a donut and coffee for going for a run at Kickstand Coffee. There’s a shop mountain bike ride with the Mountain View Cycles crew at Syncline on Wednesday evenings at 5:45pm.The Small Boat paddlers have a group paddle on Sunday at 11am at the Event Site. The Dirty Fingers Sunday Service rides start this weekend. Meet at the shop at 9am for a mixed surface ride. Then there will be bike racing on the big screen in the afternoon.
Sprinter Van of the Week!
Click here for the Sprinter Van map of the world!!!
Have an awesome day!
