It’s an absolutely stellar day in the central and near east Gorge for fishing. Tens of thousands of Chinook have brought dozens of boats to the river mouths. The fishermen will enjoy light wind all day, as much of the Gorge sees easterlies at 5-10 or less. Down there in the Iwash (Rooster) Rock and Steven’s Locks (Stevenson and Cascade Locks) regions, things will be a bit different. East wind will rise to 20-25 (maybe a touch more at Rooster) midday, holding through mid-afternoon and fading in the evening. River temp is 69 degrees. 11858 Chinook and 1459 Steelhead made it past Bonneville yesterday. Continued after the chart…
| Your favorite beach | Dawn Patrol |
9am- 11:30a |
11:30a- 3pm |
3pm- dusk |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rooster Rock | E 10-13 | E 22-25 | E 22-25 | E 18-22 | |
| Steven’s Locks | E 10-13 | E 17-20 | E 17-20 | E 10-13 | |
| Hatchery/White Salmon Sandbar (minus a few for Hood River) | light | light | E 5-8 | E 5-8 | |
| Doug’s, Lyle, Rowena | light | light | E 5-8 | E 5-8 | |
| Rufus, etc. | light | light | E 5-8 | E 5-8 | |
| Roosevelt, etc. | light | light | E 5-8 | E 5-8 | |
|
|||||
Gorge wind forecast, continued…
Saturday starts off with not much happening, but an approaching weather system in the afternoon will create a more interesting scenario for windsports peoples. Expect easterlies at 10-15 at Iwash and Steven’s Locks first thing on Saturday morning. By 2pm, the west wind should arrive, first at Stevenson and then quite soon after at Swell. Expect 13-16 by 2pm, increasing steadily to 24-27 from Stevenson to The Dalles by 2pm with Arlington joining in late. This setup favors Steven’s Locks, Mosier, Avery and Arlington over other sites. Expect a 90 minute burst at Swell before the wind backs off. Move fast, in other words.
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Sunday sees that weather system move through early in the morning, possibly setting up clouds in the central Gorge and possibly not. Either way, strong ridging building inland during the day is likely to have an impact on the wind speed. So, expect Dawn Patrol (55 degrees) at 21-24 from Swell? to Rufus, backing off east of Mosier by mid-morning. If the models are correct, the wind will fade to 13-16 during the day, staying windy from Steven’s Locks to Mosier until dusk. That said, there’s going to be very strong offshore high pressure on Sunday, and if it doesn’t build inland quickly, we could actually see a much windier day than models currently predict.
High pressure will shift inland on Monday, setting us up for a whole-Gorge east wind event. Iwash and Steven’s Locks won’t necessarily be all that much windier than everywhere else – expect 15-20 or so in the traditional east wind areas at the west end of the Gorge. The rest of the Gorge could see easterlies at 10-15 in the afternoon. If you are planning a road bike ride on Monday, take this into account, as you’ll find strong east wind in the upper valleys. Next chance of westerlies is (naturally) Wednesday, the day I was planning on riding my bike to Portland.
Jones, Sauvie’s, Coast Beta Test Forecast
Jones Friday: no. Jones Saturday: 20-23. Jones Sunday: 12-15. Sauvie’s Friday: 5-9. Sauvie’s Saturday: 10-13. Sauvie’s Sunday: 10-13. Coast (north/central/south). Friday: 20-25/25-30/30+, W swell 5′ at 9 seconds. Saturday: 15-20/20-25/30+, NW 4′ @ 10. Sunday: 20-25/25-30/35+, NW 7′ @ 10.
Mt. Hood Snow Forecast
There will be snow on the ground at Mt. Hood today, and every day until the glaciers completely melt away.
Random Morning Thoughts
I was driving up 13th Street yesterday looking at the pretty blue sky, and caught myself in time to not smash into the back of a small 1980’s Chevrolet pickup doing 5mph. Not only was it slow, it was out of tune, spewing stinky fumes into my open car windows. The left turn signal blinked twice, turned off, and came on again.
I found myself irritated. In that moment of irritation, I also noticed the cuteness of this truck. It was old. It was bumbling. It was a pretty color. It was little and dented and just plain adorable. And there I was creeping up 13th, barely maintaining 1st gear (I drive a stick, duh), smelling stinky fumes, grinning my face off at this adorable little pickup truck.
We’ve all been conditioned to associate “being stuck behind a slow car”’ with annoyance, irritation, anger, or even rage. This association is automatic. Unconscious. Not real. No, really. I’m assuming none of you get in the car and make a conscious decision to feel some unpleasant emotions if you get stuck behind a slow mover. Why would you? Unpleasant emotions feel crappy, and you want to feel good. Notice this next time you’re stuck in traffic – did you decide to feel miserable, or did your mind just put that out there for you? It did, didn’t it? It’s just a conditioned response, much like swatting at a buzzing Zika-infected mosquito.
Now that you get it, you can do something about it (especially since you can’t do anything about other drivers). You can train your mind to come up with a different response to slow cars (or anything else in any situation). It sounds far-fetched, but I promise you it’s true. I can’t tell you what response to choose, but it might be a good idea to pick something soothing or calming or funny, rather than upping your misery index by choosing rage and a quick-draw middle finger.
Anyway, your mind is a toy, just like your windsurfing, kiting or biking gear. You might as well play with it too, since you’re the kind of person who likes to play. Have an awesome day!
Disclaimer required by my grad school program: I am not your therapist (but I could be 51 graduate school credits from now). I am your weather forecaster. Take everything I say with a grain of salt, and consult with your actual therapist about your mental health issues. One other thing: I plan to keep doing this forecast indefinitely, even when I am a therapist.
Gorge Weather Forecast
It’s a beautiful sunny morning out there, but it sure is a chilly one. Good thing I slept in! Expect temps in the mid 40’s this morning and low 80’s this afternoon. East wind. No rainbows. Saturday looks sunny early with high clouds late. Temps will be in the upper 40’s early and the mid 80’s in the afternoon. Light wind early, moderate to strong wind in the afternoon. No rainbows, pretty sunset. Sunday starts partly cloudy with a pretty sunrise. Temps will be in the mid 50’s early and the mid 70’s in the afternoon. Moderate wind. No rainbows.
For weather specifically directed at travel through the Gorge, please visit Temira’s Awesome Travel Advisory Service on Facebook.
White Sprinter Van of the Day
Road and Mountain Biking
Hospital Hill and Whoopdee are closed for fire season. That even applies to the four cars that were parked at the Spring Street trailhead yesterday. If you insist on trespassing, you will end up paying the consequences, and so will the rest of us in the form of restricted access. Yes, the rules apply to YOU too!
Upcoming Events
Today’s community events start off with the donut and coffee run at Kickstand Coffee at 7. You can do the same run to benefit the Hood River Valley High School XC team at 9 on Sunday. The Huckleberry Festival starts today in Bingen and continues through Sunday, with the Huckleberry Skate Jam on Sunday at Daubenspeck Park.
Coming up tomorrow, there’s the Oregon 12 and 24 hour mountain bike race in Bend, a women’s bike ride from Mountain View Cycles at 9, the Special Olympics Shred Drive at the RiteAid parking lot from 10 to 2, free yoga at Lewis and Clark Park at 10:30, and a free half-day meditation retreat at Yoga Samadhi at 1.
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
