Forecast - The Gorge is my Gym

Good morning!

The sponsor of the report this week is 2nd Wind Sports, on 210 Oak Street in Hood River. 2nd Wind is just plain awesome, and they throw the best parties around… like the party at the Horse and Hound tonight, starting around dusk…
Clouds are hanging over the Gorge this morning, and that’s making for a light wind start to the day. As a low pressure trough moves east and high pressure fills in at the coast around midday, westerlies pick up. With the clouds around, it’s going to be gusty, but we’ll still see 14-18 from Viento to Mosier and 22-26 from Lyle out to Rufus this afternoon.

We’ll see a fairly light start in the 10-15 range tomorrow morning, but stronger west winds return tomorrow as high pressure at the coast combines with an afternoon thermal gradient for 21-24 through the central gorge. At this point, it looks like the 4th of July will be a repeat of Saturday, as far as windspeeds go.

If it’s still early, you’re female, and you like mountain biking, join the Disco Divas for a Hospital Hill tour. Hopefully they’ll skip Hector Connector, because it makes me want to barf. If you want to join that ride, meet at the Spring Street corral at 8:30am.

In other news, it’s First Friday in Hood River tonigh, and it’s going to be a big one. Oak Street is closed, and 2nd Wind is throwing an all-ages, outdoor kiteboard movie premiere and party at the Horse and Hound starting around 9pm.

If you want to watch a cool event this weekend, head to Maryhill for the Festival of Speed, where downhill skateboarders and street lugers from all over the world take on the Maryhill loop road, some of the finest pavement on the planet!

Boaters, the White Salmon’s just below 3 feet, a super fun level, and the Klickitat’s just dropped quite a bit: it’s at 1730 cfs. There’s a plan afoot to put together a big crew for laps on the Klickitat or Lower White Salmon on either Wednesday or Thursday, when temperatures are supposed to reach 95 degrees. There will, of course, be drinking and BBQing involved. I mean… we’d never drink and boat, of course, but we’ll drink afterwards. If you’d like to join in the fun, please shoot me an email so I can determine how many pounds of ribs to buy!

That’s it for today. Whatever you do today, have an awesome day!

Temira

p.s. If you think this report is worth something, or you’d like the subscribe to the email version of this forecast for a chance to win cool prizes, click on the donate button below for a suggested donation of $10. Thank you!

Good morning,

First off, I want to give my condolences to the friends and family of Jon Johnson, who passed away from a stroke Tuesday at Doug’s Beach. Jon and his wife Marilyn were longtime owners of the Inn at the Gorge, until a couple of years ago, and had been sailing in the Gorge since the 1980’s. I’ve been asked by one of their friends to pass along thanks from Marilyn to everyone who helped out at Doug’s… if you were there, know that you did your best, and that Jon passed away on a good day of windsurfing. May we all go so easily, wearing our favorite sporting gear, at our favorite beach, trail, mountain or river. And may we all be here for many more years, and not pass away in our prime, as Jon did.

And now, the forecast, in Jon’s memory… so you damn well better get out and windsurf for him today!

Cloudy skies in the western Gorge this morning combine with a passing weather system and sunshine in the desert for continuing west winds today. Although early morning gradients and windspeeds were light (.07 gradient and winds around 10-12mph), winds will pick up later. By midday, we’ll see upper teens from Hood River to Arlington, building to the low twenties this afternoon.

Tomorrow looks windier, as high pressure rebuilds along the coast. Winds start out light tomorrow, but slowly build into the 23-27 range east of Hood River in the afternoon, with 15-19 from Viento down to Mosier.

At this point, the weekend is looking at least windy enough for kiting and slalom sailing, with maybe a 50/50 chance of stronger westerlies on Saturday. The first few days of next week look hot, with the first 90 degree temps of the year headed this way. Not a good sign for wind, but a great chance for you to get a tan…

If you want mountain biking tonight, it’s Post and Pint night at Dirty Fingers. Meet at the shop at 5:30 for a Post Canyon lap followed by social hour at the shop. Don’t forget that tomorrow morning is the Dirty Divas women’s-only ride, and it’s Hospital Hill this week. If you want to join, give Discover Bikes a call.

Finally, if you’ve been waiting patiently for Ape Canyon and Plains of Abraham, it’s really close. There’s still some snow at higher elevations, but all the fallen logs are cleared from the trail. The information on the Gifford Pinchot website isn’t very clear, so the first person to give me a first-hand report gets a fresh-baked tray of brownies.

Oh, and one last thing, the Maryhill Festival of Speed, a 5-sport event including downhill skateboarding and street luge, is on through Sunday at the Maryhill loops road. Go check it out!

That’s it for today. Whatever you do today, have an awesome day!

Temira

p.s. If you think this forecast is valuable, or you’d like to subscribe to the email version and win cool prizes (like $50 at Sophie’s Restaurant, this week’s sponsor), click on the donate button below for a suggested donation of $10. Thank you for your support!