Author: Temira

First off, Art and Judy left their Chinook carbon boom at Maryhill Sat. about 5:00 pm, if anyone has the boom please leave a message for Art at Northwave. Art and Judy are very nice people, so if you happened to pick up their boom, please get it back to them. I’ll throw in a batch of brownies as part of the reward.

Also, I still have an XS Gath helmet that someone left at Cheap Beach about 5 days ago. I would like to give it back to the owner. As you know, my car is very small… =)

On to the forecast…

West winds yesterday beat the models and the forecasts for a pretty nice day on the water. Weak high pressure off the coast today combines with weak low pressure in the desert to keep west winds flowing. We started off with gradients at .12 and west winds in the low twenties. I think we’ll see 22-25 early, picking up to 25-29 later. The morning looks good, but strongest winds will be late afternoon from Doug’s out to Maryhill.

Models and forecast discussions are in complete disagreement tomorrow, with models predicting wind and discussions calling for less onshore flow. With low pressure hitting the coast in the afternoon, low clouds should fill back in to Portland late tomorrow. So, I think we’ll see a light start tomorrow, picking up into the gusty mid-twenties late in the day from Stevenson out to Maryhill.

As an offshore low moves through the Northwest on Thursday, winds keep blowing through the Gorge.

In other news, ait’s time to start thinking about the last swap meet of the year, or at least the last before the Ski and Gear swap on Halloween. So, start clearing out your garage for CGWA’s swap meet, coming up this Sunday at the expo center parking lot.

And coming up towards the end of the month is the Dirty Fingers Bike Repair mountain bike campout at Lewis River. Give dirty fingers a call for more details!

Whatever you do today, have an awesome day.

I know that you Hood River residents are holding your gas tax ballot in your hands. I encourage you to vote for the tax. If you do not, you will be subjected to less snowplowing (a lot less), less road repair, and less road sweeping (of that pesky gravel that makes you crash your expensive road bike and cracks your windshield) for the NEXT FOUR YEARS. I’m sorry. Did I say that in caps? Hopefully I got my point across. Vote yes for the tax (c’mon, it’s only $30/year if you buy 20 gallons of gas a week), and tell your friends to vote yes.

Now, on to the forecast. No… wait… did anyone leave an XS Gath helmet (you know Gath helmets are the best, right?) at Cheap? If so, I have it.

It’s another day of west wind in the Gorge today as morning clouds in Portland combine with sunshine in the desert to give us afternoon thermals. Although gradients and windspeeds were pretty light at dawn, they’ll pick up a bit as the day goes on. By midday, we’ll see 15-18 in the corridor, and by afternoon, winds pick up to 17-21 or so from Stevenson down to Rowena.

A strong upper low sets up off the Oregon coast tonight, sending marine clouds into Portland tomorrow morning. That’ll give us a thermal gradient in the afternoon, but low pressure off the coast will limit the overall gradient. Southerly upper flow tomorrow will make things gusty, and probably limit sunshine, but I still think we’ll see 17-21, maybe a little better, from Hood River out to Arlington tomorrow afternoon.

The weather picture gets complicated on Wednesday, but it’s looking like winds will be pretty light in the Gorge.

In other news, there are a couple of group bike rides tonight. The first is a high-speed ride out of Mountain View Cycles at 5pm. The alternative ride, the no-spandex, no clipless pedals, front light recommend, helmet and rear light required, cruiser ride meets in front of Mountain View at 6:15.

Also tonight is free chi gong and tai chi at Wilson Park in Hood River. Since there’s so much going on, you have no excuse to be on the couch in front of the TV this evening.

Whatever you do today, have an awesome day.