Category: Forecast

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Good morning!

It’s looking like we’re going to sneak by with snow in the mountains for the next few days, and that’s quite a relief to me.

Snow will fall above 4500’ for much of the day today, with 4-6” falling between now and closing time at the ski resorts. After a brief break in snowfall, another system hits in the middle of the night, bringing 10-12” during the day tomorrow and another 6-8” tomorrow night. Snow flurries continue all day Friday, with diminishing intensity towards afternoon, and probably ending by sunset.

Snow levels will fluctuate between 4500’ and 5500’ between now and early Friday morning, when they’ll fall to 3500’ or so. It would not surprise me if we see a few periods of snow mixed with rain at the base of Meadows, and straight-up rain for periods at Skibowl.

Windspeeds will remain high, in the 20-30mph range, until Friday afternoon, with upper lifts closed at T-Line and Meadows.

The weekend is not looking pretty in the mountains, but it is looking great if you like boating very full rivers. If you’re a boater, Sunday and Monday are looking good.

At this point, it’s not clear where the bulk of the storm will make landfall, but by midday Saturday, temperatures will be above freezing at 5000 feet, and by midday Sunday, temperatures will be well into the 40’s at 5000 feet. There’s a lot of moisture headed this way with that system; 2-3” looks possible on Saturday with another 2-3” on Sunday. Fortunately, at this time it looks like the majority of the rain will be north of Mt. Hood, and fortunately, it’s BrewFest at Meadows on Saturday, so you’ll have an alternate activity if you have to be on the hill.

Finally, Wet Planet is having a contest on their Facebook page. Write a comment about the White Salmon (the original posting is from Nov. 29th, so you’ll have to scroll down to see the details) and you could win a free trip and t-shirt. Or… you can just like one of my haikus and I’ll give away the trip to someone on the email list. I get to keep the t-shirt. =)

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

p.s. If you find this report useful, entertaining, or just want to recognize all the hard work that goes into it, please take the time to make a donation by clicking on the button at the bottom of the page. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til November 2011, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.

The Clymb: free membership.
Access to super cheap gear including Trew, Zeal, Sierra Designs, and many more.

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Good morning!

Today is the calm before the storm, as far as mountain weather goes. We’ll see trace amounts at Mt. Hood today, and then starting tomorrow morning, all hell breaks loose on the hill. Okay, that’s exaggerating it, as there’s only a strong front passing, not a massive upper level low, but it’s fun to exaggerate!

Starting around 1am tomorrow morning, precipitation starts at Mt. Hood. We’ll see .5”-.75” tomorrow morning through tomorrow afternoon. At this point, models are showing above-freezing temperatures (2-4°C) up to about 6500 feet. Since we can see snow up to about 2°, we might sneak by with snow during this storm. A more likely scenario is a mix of rain and snow to the top of Mt. Hood Express at Meadows, rain at Skibowl, and snow on the higher lifts at Meadows and Timberline. Higher elevations at the resorts will see 6-8” of snow tomorrow with significant drifting from 40mph south-southwest wind. Incidentally, the lower elevations at Meadows tend to be protected from southerly wind, so the skiing, if it’s not raining, could be quite good.

Temperatures hold around 2°C through Thursday, when we’ll see another 1” or so of water equivalent for 10-12” of snow above 5000’. Free air winds switch to westerly at 40mph, giving us 25-35 on the slopes at Meadows.

Snow levels and windspeeds drop on Friday, with another 6-8” of snow from 3500-4000’ on up.

At this point, Saturday looks ugly, so we’re not going to talk about it in the hope that the forecast will change.

If you want to go windsurfing or kiting, the gradient is .26 east right now, for 39 @ Stevenson and 45 @ Rooster (thank you iWindsurf for that information).

As for the weather in the Gorge, above-freezing temperatures at this time suggest we’ll see rain or sleet, rather than freezing rain, tomorrow, as the ground isn’t cold enough to freeze precipitation on contact. That’s a nice change, isn’t it? =)

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

p.s. If you find this report useful, entertaining, or just want to recognize all the hard work that goes into it, please take the time to make a donation by clicking on the button at the bottom of the page. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til November 2011, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.