Good morning!
Hopefully all you windsurfers and kiters spent some time on the water yesterday. If not, don’t be sad, because the wind isn’t stopping any time soon. The 5am gradient was at .10, from Portland to The Dalles, the 5am sunrise was beautiful, and the marine cloud line is west of Hood River this morning. Strongest, steadiest wind will be at the Hatch, Sandbar and Mosier this morning, and at Doug’s and Rowena this afternoon. 21-24 is the call this morning, with 23-26 the call this afternoon.
Tomorrow starts off with a chance of showers in the central Gorge as a low pressure system heads for the desert. Chase the low pressure eastward for strong wind from Doug’s to Arlington tomorrow. I think 26-30 by mid-afternoon is a safe call. Note, that’s the safe call… It might be 29-33.
Thursday looks like a repeat of Wednesday, and at this point, it’s starting to look windy all the way through the weekend! Yippee! (My brain is excited. My body is protesting. So is my lack of sleep.)
If you love sailing at the Hatchery, remember that a lot of the Hatch sailors will be at the contest this week, so it’s going to be uncrowded sailing. Also, both lanes of Highway 14 are open at White Salmon all week. There are some closures at Dog Mountain, so check the WSDOT website for more information.
If you’re headed down to Pistol River for the contest, it’s looking like there will be plenty of wind on the south coast starting Thursday. It’s not looking like a super-nuker for the event, but 25-35 knots is the current forecast.
In other news, someone told me yesterday that the mud has dried up on Lewis River and Falls Creek, so head to those rides for some great deep-forest mountain biking out of the wind. I also have reports that Knebal and 8-mile are in awesome shape. Ape Canyon is still not open, and with snow levels dropping to 4000 feet today and tomorrow, it’s not going to melt out any time soon. C’mon Mother Nature!
If you’re looking for after work fun tonight, there’s the Tuesday Night Triathlon at the Event site at 6pm. I’m not sure if that’s considered fun, but it’s a good group of people and the beer drinking afterwards is sure to be fun (if you like beer)… That’s a 500 yard swim, 8 mile bike and 2 mile run. Also tonight is the Big Winds’ ladies’ standup paddle club, with free demos and lessons, but that’s weather permitting, and I’m guessing it’s unlikely given the wind forecast.
And out on the rivers, the White Salmon’s at 3.75 feet and the Klickitat’s at 2610 cfs. I’m off to the Klickitat today to paddle around. Wish me luck. =)
If you’d like to receive this forecast as an email, click on the donate button at the bottom of the page for a suggested donation of $10. If you’re on that email list, you’ll have a chance to wind lots of cool prizes (it’s free acupuncture this week and next, and that’s a rad prize for a beat-up Gorge athlete!)
That’s it for today. Whatever you do today, have an awesome day!
Temira
