The Gorge is my Gym

The Clymb: free membership. Cheap gear. Temira approves. Click to join.

Before you read on, please remember that this report (wind, snow and events, year round, almost every day – WOW!) is brought to you free of charge. It’s my hobby, but it’s valuable to you, and I put it out here free so you can make the most of your free time. But there are five times as many people using the forecast for free as there are making donations. We all know windsurfers and kiters and skiers can make a small donation to keep a good thing going. So we’re trying something through Labor Day. You can get this forecast as an email for $12. That gets you in the running for a few prizes here and there, and from now on it’ll give you consistency (on the 98% of days I write a forecast. Admit it, that’s pretty amazing for one chick working by herself!). Here’s the scoop: If I get donations totaling $15 or more on a given day, I’ll post a forecast the next day. If not, only the people on the mailing list get the forecast. Thanks for understanding that I have to make a living, and thank you for your support!

Tomorrow’s forecast status:

Updated 12:49pm (that was one hell of a bike ride this morning). Thank you for your donations!

Today’s going to another hot one. Even though it was hot here yesterday, Portland was worse, with a new record high of 102 at Portland airport. According to Hood River Weather, we topped out at a cool 98 degrees yesterday. The highest temp I saw at HOXO was 96. Our previous record was 100, so no new record for us. Today should be just a bit cooler, but quite a bit muggier, making for another hot one in the Gorge.

How much muggier? Yesterday we were hovering around 13% humidity at 98 degrees. Right now we’re at 70% at 59 degrees. The forecast for today is 30ish% at 90 degrees. That’s going to feel really sticky. Could be worse, though.

Models give us light east wind this morning, switching back to light west wind mid-afternoon. Then the models are convinced we’ll see 17-21, maybe even 21-24 from Stevenson to The Dalles early this evening. I’m going to hedge my bets and say we’ll see 17-21 in Stevenson and 15-18 in Hood River before dark.

Overnight tonight, we’ll see a brief period of strong west wind (and a chance of thunderstorms), but models show the strong wind quickly fading tomorrow, giving us dawn patrol at 24-27 and westerlies at 15-18 for the rest of the day. Why won’t the wind stick around? Well, the wind coming in this afternoon/evening/tonight is driven by a marine push and temp gradient, but tomorrow, the gradient will be fighting the low pressure center offshore.

With a low pressure system hanging off the coast on Tuesday, we’ll see light wind through the Gorge until afternoon, when the west wind picks up to 15-18. That low finally moves east of us Tuesday night, setting the Gorge up for dawn patrol at 25-29+ on Wednesday with 24-28 the rest of the day.

In events today, there’s the Larch Mountain Time Trial, a complete sufferfest of road biking with 3800 feet of climbing over just 13.7 miles. Best of luck to all the local racers competing. That sounds like a fun ride… on a cool day. Not on a day when Portland is going to hit 90ish with high humidity.

Coming up tomorrow, there’s the Barrett Park conditional use permit appeal meeting at 6pm at 601 State in Hood River. Be there to show support for your side. No testimony will be taken, but your presence will be noted. Also tomorrow, free Tai Chi at Wilson Park in Hood River, and the Alternative Ride leaving Mountain View Cycles at 6:30.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

The Clymb: free membership. Cheap gear. Temira approves. Click to join.

Before you read on, please remember that this report (wind, snow and events, year round, almost every day – WOW!) is brought to you free of charge. It’s my hobby, but it’s valuable to you, and I put it out here free so you can make the most of your free time. But there are five times as many people using the forecast for free as there are making donations. We all know windsurfers and kiters and skiers can make a small donation to keep a good thing going. So we’re trying something through Labor Day. You can get this forecast as an email for $12. That gets you in the running for a few prizes here and there, and from now on it’ll give you consistency (on the 98% of days I write a forecast. Admit it, that’s pretty amazing for one chick working by herself!). Here’s the scoop: If I get donations totaling $15 or more on a given day, I’ll post a forecast the next day. If not, only the people on the mailing list get the forecast. Thanks for understanding that I have to make a living, and thank you for your support!

Tomorrow’s forecast status: 7:55am. Thanks for the donations, guys!

First off, if you were hoping to check out the Bridge of the Gods amateur contest, you’ll have to postpone the fun until August 18th or 19th, because the contest organizers took one look at the wind forecast and postponed their event.

We had light east wind yesterday, and the east wind will continue today. You can expect 15-18 today at Stevenson with 17-20 at Rooster Rock. Tomorrow starts off with east wind at 10-15 at Stevenson and Rooster, switching to light west wind late in the evening, really too late for kiting and windsurfing. It’s also going to be f**king hot, with temps in the mid-nineties today and low nineties tomorrow, with humidity tomorrow accompanying the heat. Make sure you check Hood River Weather for the heat index, and take some time to complain about the weather in the chat room.

Tomorrow’s late west push will be the result of a temperature gradient related to an upper level low sitting off the coast. A more interesting result of that ULL’s location will be S-SW flow in the upper atmosphere, giving us a chance for thunderstorms. Hot thunderstorms. Dry thunderstorms. Thunderstorms that mean lightning strikes on timber-dry forests. Cross your fingers that this doesn’t happen, and in the meantime, if you’re in a fire-prone area, mow your perimeter today.

That ULL will be off the coast on Monday, convection all day and another, stronger, chance for thunderstorms on Monday evening. As the ULL moves inland Tuesday, the convection fires up again. This could put us under SE flow, which would send the bulk over the storms over the HR Valley. On a more positive note, Monday and Tuesday sunrises should be spectacular.

The wind forecast is iffy with the convection. Light wind Monday morning picks up to gusty 16-19 late. Tuesday looks light early, picking up to 15-18 late. Wind quality will be horrendous, and wind speeds will be affected by the unstable atmosphere. Wednesday looks very windy, as the ULL finally moves inland.

For those of you contemplating the coast, only the very north coast will happen today, with 15-18 and a 5 foot swell at 8 seconds. Tomorrow looks cloudy out there, with light south wind.

So what to do today? Some whitewater rafting or kayaking or tubing might be a good call. The White Salmon is at a nice level, around 2.75′ and the Klickitat’s at 1150cfs. The White Salmon’s about 42 degrees, so maybe the Klickitat is a good place to spend the day. Or the Columbia, now at 67 degrees. Or the swimming hole at the Hood. Or punchbowl. Or the Mosier swimming hole. Or Memaloose. Or the new sandbar at the mouth of the White Salmon…

For tonight, Pfriem Brewery’s opening party runs from 2-11 with my friends’ band Smudgepot playing from 5-7 and other music all afternoon and evening. 707 Portway down by the Waterfront Park. Also tonight, the movie Secretariat plays at Movies in the Park, Hood River (Jackson Park), with a visit from the real Secretariat at 5:30, long before the movie starts, but just in time for you to have a picnic with the family.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira