Christmas Day: mt. hood’s going on a wild snow and wind ride. Like disneyland, but more exciting.

Meet Temira,
your Gorge and Mt. Hood forecaster

For almost 30 years, Temira (they/them) has been making the most of what the Gorge has to offer: riding river swell on a foil or windsurf board, carving fresh lines through the snow, and cycling all the gravel and pavement and trails. This is Temira’s playground, their gym… their life’s work.

That’s why in 2006, Temira took it upon themselves to create the most accurate, hyper-local weather forecasts possible. Inaccurate predictions had left too many fellow adventurers caught off-guard and in harm’s way. Temira was determined to change that. Today, Temira’s forecasts have become an essential resource for thousands of skiers, snowboarders, wind sports enthusiasts and travelers through the Gorge. With their guidance, you can plan ahead, time your sessions perfectly, and stay safer on the water, snow, and trails.

But the story doesn’t end there. Temira also authors the TATAS Facebook page – the Gorge’s premier source for microclimate forecasts. When winter storms, extreme heat, or other hazardous conditions (avalanches on SR-14 and I-84, for example!) threaten, this community lifeline becomes a vital resource for locals and visitors alike, helping to keep everyone safe.

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

Good morning skiers and snowboarders! If you like storm skiing and dense snow, this is the week for you. There’s a ton of moisture coming over the next several days (mostly snow, but also some rain) and there’s also a ton of wind. If this morning’s forecast holds, we’re going to see some periods where the resorts are unable to run lifts due to wind. Most likely day for this is Friday, but Thursday’s likely to have some issues too. With quite a bit of range in the wind model predictions, my forecasting can’t be as precise as usual. The interquartile range for snowfall between now and Sunday morning (when snowfall tapers off) is 34-44”. 90th percentile is 49”. Given the massive orographic assistance available, this seems entirely possible, at least above 6500′. That’s a LOT of new snow! Nordic note: Double your Teacup donation impact with year-end matching

Wednesday starts out mellow compared to all that. The free air freezing level will be 2000′ early. Snowfall starts mid to late morning with the snow level initially at 2000′ but slowly rising to 7000′ tonight. Snow will probably switch over to rain mid-evening at 5000′. The snow level falls back to 5500′ after midnight. Before 4pm, we’re expecting 0.3” water equivalent (WE) for 3” new snow at 5000′. Overnight, models bring in 1.6” WE of mixed precipitation. We’ll probably pick up a few wet inches at 5000′ with over a foot of new above 6500′. Wind today: SW 15-25 this morning, SW 25-40 this afternoon, and SW 40-60 after midnight.

Blasting wind and dumping snow starts out Thursday as a low pressure system moves inland. If this morning’s GFS run is correct, most lifts will be on standby early due to this wind. Mt. Hood Express might run in this, but even that lift, despite its considerable heft, is questionable. Models are not all-in on shutdown strength wind, but enough call for big wind that it’s worth mentioning. Anyway, the snow level falls from 5500′ at 4am to 4000′ by 7am and holds during the day. Overnight, it rises to 5000′. Thank the west wind for orographic enhancement of the snowfall: 1.0” WE during the day for 10-12” new. Another 0.8” WE overnight for 8-10” new. We could even see up to 40% more thanks to that orographic component squeezing out as much snow as possible from the already-considerable available moisture. Wind: SW 40-60 early quickly turns to W 60 and causes all sorts of chaos. The wind slowly fades to WSW 40-50 in the afternoon, drops to SW 15-30 in the evening, and rises to WSW 45-50 overnight. If the lifts can run, it’ll be a heck of a storm skiing day! Oh, I should probably mention that the low-high-low snow level combo is likely to cause some icing problems on lifts.

Another super-stormy day is forecast on Friday. Models are actually more consistent in calling for extra-strong wind on Friday than they are for Thursday. Chances of storm riding: 100%. The snow level starts at 5000′, holds during the day, and then rises to 5500’+ overnight. Models haven’t coalesced around the incoming system’s track, and that leaves us with some wiggle room on snow levels and temps. Models do hint that temps will rise above freezing by a few degrees, briefly, which means we could see some mixed precip overnight. During the day, models give us 1.8” WE with a 5000′ snow level for up to 18” of new snow depending on elevation. Overnight: 0.3” WE as mixed precip or wet snow. Wind: disruptive. WSW 45-50 in the morning, W 50-60 in the afternoon, WSW 40-45 in the evening, and WSW 50-55 after midnight. If that wind materializes, lifts are unlikely.

Lesser snowfall and lesser wind is forecast on Saturday with the snow level around 5000′. Similar conditions are forecast on Sunday. The weather then turns colder through Wednesday morning, after which we jump back on the roller coaster. Whew. That’s a lot of excitement packed into a short period of time. Stay safe out there!

Gorge Wind Forecast

Hi friends! Looks like we have an east wind day on tap today followed by a couple of potentially strong west wind days. There’s quite a bit of range in the ensemble forecasts for the next two days as they struggle with the inland passage of low pressure systems. So, no precision available for the forecast. For Wednesday, an offshore low turns the wind easterly. A 5-10mph easterly start builds into the afternoon. The day finishes up with 30-35 at Iwash (Rooster) Rock and 25mph at Stevenson. River flow over the last 24 hours was 80-105kcfs (but I”m using a backup site that I don’t trust), river temp is 45F, and high temp forecast is 41F with pouring rain in the afternoon.

A low moves inland on Thursday and turns the wind around. The GFS deterministic gives us 30-35mph from dawn to 1pm east of The Dalles. It also gives us 30-35mph west wind at Iwash and also from Stevenson to Viento. Swell will be in the “maybe” zone, and Hood River to Doug’s will probably be less than 20mph. I’m actually pretty skeptical of this forecast; ensembles are far, far less optimistic about the wind and only give us low to mid 20s at the surface. We’ll have to revisit this tomorrow. High temp: 48F with rain. Friday sees another low move inland. Again, the path will make all the difference. Ensembles prefer Friday over Thursday for strong wind, but the deterministic prefers Thursday over Friday. Either way, we’re likely to see westerlies of some sort Friday. With lots of rain forecast for the west side, steadiest conditions will be out east. But maybe you don’t care about steadiness. You only care about swell size! Okay, that’s about as much precision as I can give you with the lack of clarity in the models. Have a great day today!

Very basic Hood River weather forecast

Don’t plan your life around this. You really should read Temira’s Awesome Travel Advisory Service on Facebook for a detailed weather forecast.

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Cycling Update

Trails have been a mix of frozen, hoar-frost (unrideable), and freeze-thaw. When it’s wet and muddy, or when there are freeze-thaw conditions, please don’t ride, or you’ll do significant trail damage. Then peeps have to fix your mess rather than building new trails. Nobody wants that! Everyone wants new trails. Be a good steward, and pick a different activity

Remember: E-bikes are not allowed on USFS non-moto trails. They are allowed on moto trails.