Thursday: stellar packed powder to fulfill all your schussing and skating desires.

The best snow forecast for Mt. Hood. The best wind forecast for the Gorge.

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The Forecast

	4a-8a	8a-12p	12p-4p	4p-8p	8p-4a
Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
Thursday 2000′->3000′->1500′
Friday 1500′->2000′->1000′
Saturday 1000′->2000′->500′

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

The Meadows snow report says it this morning “acres and acres of packed powder”. With mostly clear sky overnight and cool temps, the snow will be crisp and perfect whether you’re headed for the alpine slopes or the Nordic loops. We’ll hold on to that packed powder for the next several days and maybe transition a bit to hardpack. The next chance for big snow is Monday into Tuesday – this system has the potential for excellent blower pow, champagne pow, face shots… all the good stuff!

Let’s start with Thursday. Partially high overcast sky follows a stellar sunrise. The free air freezing level (FAF) will be 2000′ this morning, 3000′ this afternoon, and 1500′ overnight. No precip. Wind will be SSW 10-20 all day and will turn to W 25 overnight.

Friday will have a few high clouds but less than Thursday. The free air freezing level will be 1500′ in the morning, 2000′ in the afternoon, and 1000′ overnight. Wind: W 25 in the morning, W 15 in the afternoon, and WNW 15-20 overnight.

Saturday will be cloudy / high overcast all day with a wee bit of snow overnight. The snow level will be 1500′ in the morning, 2000′ in the afternoon, and 500-1000′ overnight. About 0.1” water equivalent (WE) is forecast for up to an inch of dry, light, fluffy powder that will get blown all over the place. Wind: WNW 15-20 in the morning, NW 25-35 in the afternoon and evening. Sunday will be dry and windy until the evening then it will be snowy (a few inches) and even windier, perhaps enough to affect some lifts. Monday looks snowy (half a foot or so?) and very windy (affecting lifts early, but not so much later due to a shift in direction). Very heavy snowfall Monday night continues into Tuesday with full-on storm skiing conditions all day. That’s the deterministic version – there is still a wide range of spread for possible outcomes. Vote for the deterministic GFS which predicts at least a couple feet of snow. After Tuesday, we’ll have a couple days of very cold, dry weather. In other words, there are exactly zero sucky days of skiing in the next week!

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Gorge Wind Forecast

Happy Thursday, and welcome back! You’ve got a chance at some strong westerlies Sunday into Tuesday. No promises, but chances are decent. Let’s start with the near-term forecast. Thursday That lasts a couple hours, and then the gradient turns onshore. But not much. Light westerlies are forecast from Stevenson to Amayah’s Indian food cart (aka Biggs). Friday starts with light westerlies. Afternoon: 11-14 from Stevenson to Amayah’s (Rufus). Saturday starts with light westerlies. Clouds interfere with the western Gorge and keep the wind in the gusty 10-15 range for the afternoon. East of The Dalles, you’ll find gusty 20-23. There’s lots of range in the Sunday-Tuesday forecast, but generally speaking, westerlies in the moderate to strong range are forecast. Interestingly, models show the best agreement for a big day on Tuesday. We’ll keep an eye on this so the ten of you who are cold-insensitive can make plans together!

Jones, Sauvie Island, Coast – Done for the Season

Hood River Weather Forecast

Partial high clouds this morning increase this afternoon. Temps will be in the upper 20’s early and upper 40’s later. Light easterlies this morning. Light westerlies this afternoon. No rainbows. Friday will be partly high overcast. Temps start in the upper 20’s and climb to the low 50’s. Light westerlies early. Moderate later. No rainbows. Saturday will be cloudy then partly cloudy. Temps start in the low 30’s and rise to the upper 40’s. Light westerlies early. Moderate westerlies later. No 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.

Local-ish Events

Please let me know of outdoor-related local-ish events. If you don’t tell me, I don’t know!
Regular weekly events: NK Studios in Bingen has a donation-based yoga class at 7:30am every Tuesday. Ferment’s Tuesday night 4-mile walk/run is at 6pm. There’s meditation with monks at 5:15pm (an hour) and 6:30pm (30 minutes plus a talk) at Yoga Samadhi in White Salmon. At 7:15am on Wednesdays, there’s a run from the White Salmon Bakery. At 7am on Friday morning, there’s a run from Pine Street Bakery. On Fridays at 2:30pm, there’s a free meditation and stretching class at Yoga Samadhi. There’s a weekly group paddle to the Event Site on Sunday at 11 am followed by a free pint at the fire pit at Ferment. That’s the “Paddle n’ Pint”. Also: Wednesday Paddle Sprints at the Event Site at Noon.

Cycling

If you ride in the mud, you’ll do significant and permanent damage to the trail bed. Be thoughtful about your riding choices. Also, it’s winter. Be prepared to turn around due to freeze-thaw mud. If it was below freezing the night before your ride, don’t ride trails that are exposed to the open air. Those trails will have freeze-thaw conditions, and you’ll do major damage. Consider gravel riding! If you’re parking at Post Canyon, you will need a parking pass. Those can be purchased at many local shops or online.