Friday: the powder pile-up continues!

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

Thank you for using this forecast. Like it? Find it useful? Support it (and me!) by sending some cash my way. What’s it cost to support me and get the email version? Not $99 a year. Nope. Not $49. Just $19.99 or more gets you a year. People are added to this list on Thursday and Sunday. My day job is crisis mental health, and I don’t have time on other days. Thanks for your patience! Click below to contribute. Thank you!!

Auto-renewing subscription. Easy. Awesome. Set and forget!

Thank you for contributing and keeping this forecast going! Not ready to subscribe?
No problem – please share this forecast with all your friends too! I appreciate your support!

Or… Try the email free until the end of this month

The Forecast

	4a-8a	8a-12p	12p-4p	4p-8p	8p-4a
Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
Friday 1000′->0′
Saturday 0′->1500′->0′
Sunday 0′->1500′->0′

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

Stormy weather continues on Mt. Hood as Mother Nature throws full-on winter back into the spring skiing mix. About 8” of fresh snow, powder-quality, fell over the last 24 hours, and another foot or so is forecast before this storm ends. If you plan to head to the hill this weekend, expect very, very heavy usage both days. Plan to carpool, hitch, or take public transport. The CAT bus can take you from either Govy or Hood River to your destination at Meadows or Teacup.

So, Friday’s weather, even though it’s a very late forecast (I got home at 2am from a crisis call). It’ll be stormy all day! The snow level will be 1000’ish all day long and will fall as low as 0-500′ overnight. 850Mb temps will be -7C or so, in the teens on the slopes. Incoming snow will be full-on powder. Yay! We’ll see about 0.4” to 0.5” water equivalent (WE) during the day for 4-5” new pow-pow. Instability in the afternoon makes it difficult to pinpoint snow totals, but let’s call it 0.4” to 0.7” WE overnight. That’s another 5-8” dry, fluffy powder. Wind: WNW 20-30 in the morning, W 30 in the afternoon, and WNW 20-30 after midnight.

Snow continues on Sunday. We haven’t had many weekend powder days, so expect a big crowd. The snow level will be 0-500′ in the morning, 1500′ in the afternoon, and the free air freezing level will be down to 0′ under mostly clear sky overnight. About 0.3” WE is forecast during the day for up to 3” snow. Same overnight. Wind: WNW 20-30 in the morning, W 15 in the afternoon, and WNW 15-20 overnight.

Sunday looks partly cloudy then clear. We can’t rule out some afternoon clouds and/or flurries or graupel due to instability. We also can’t accurately predict them. The free air freezing level (FAF) will be 0′ in the morning, 1500′ in the afternoon, and 0-1000′ overnight. Wind: WNW 15-20 in the morning, light westerly in the afternoon, and SE 20 overnight. A giant low pressure system offshore on Monday sets off strong east wind under partly cloudy to clear sky. This could be enough wind to really affect Timberline. Meadows: not so much. There’s a 40/60 chance of a little snow on Monday night into Tuesday, but models are far from clear. After that, the weather looks dry through Friday sometime, after which the most likely outcome is… MORE SNOW!

FORECAST SPONSORED BY / AWESOME COMPANIES TO SUPPORT

Gorge Wind Forecast

Strong westerlies are in the forecast today. Pressures at the not-so-early 9am hour were 30.22-30.15-30.10 with strong offshore high pressure too. Westerlies when I dragged myself out of bed after a late-night crisis call were in the teens most places. Head east of the showery Corridor for best results today. Late morning wind will rise to 11-14 in the western Gorge and gusty 24-28 out east. Afternoon: as much as 28-32 from Doug’s or Avery to Boardman. River flow readings are 108-144kcfs, river temp is 42F, and high temp forecast is 47F. Notice that does not add up to 100F!

Saturday starts downright cold, right around freezing, with westerlies at 7-10 (and showers) in the western Gorge and 14-17 out east. Strong offshore high pressures helps once again, but the wind won’t be nearly as strong as Friday. That said, the offshore high pressure could make wind exceed the forecast. 17-20 from Mosier to Boardman is the call midday. Don’t drive way out there (unless you’re going to Amayah’s for lunch); the wind will fill in at 19-23 from Mosier to Rufus in the afternoon and drop off east of Rufus. High temp: 47F. Sunday starts with W 10-13 all the way east to Arlington and probably drops to “light westerly” in the afternoon. High temp: 48F. Monday and Tuesday will be east wind days.

Jones, Sauvie Island, Coast – Done for the Season

Hood River Weather Forecast

Showery weather continues all day with the potential for hail or graupel mixed in. Overnight, some graupel or snow. Temps start in the upper 30’s and rise to the upper 40’s. Moderate westerlies. 94% chance of rainbows. Saturday will will have flurries in the morning and afternoon with graupel and hail possible. Temps will be in the low 30’s early and upper 40’s later. Moderate westerlies. 87% chance of rainbows. Sunday will be sunny and dry. Temps start in the low-mid 30’s and rise to the upper 40’s. Light westerlies. 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!
The Meadows Strava Nordic race started 3/17. There’s a (secret?) rail jam at Little John on the evening of March 27th. April 2nd is an end-of-season party at Meadows Nordic. April 15th at 10am is the “Run with the Wild 5k” fun run to support the Wildland Firefighter Foundation.

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. On Saturday at 9am, there’s a by-donation outdoor group fitness on the 2rd floor deck about Ferment Brewing. 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

Many of the trails will be muddy with the exception of Syncline. Please avoid the muddy trails (Hospital Hill, Whoopdee, Post) – if you ride them, you’ll do major damage and ruin the next person’s ride.. You might be able to ride the Deschutes or Klickitat trails or Syncline, but you’ll be most successful on gravel. 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.