Mt. Hood snow and Gorge wind forecast | The Gorge is my Gym

Good morning!

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood today. We’ll see light wind and clearing skies. The free air freezing level will be 500’ early, rising to 2000’ later. Winds will be N 0-10 in the morning, going to NW 5-10 by 2pm. Our friends at Skibowl have decided to open at 3pm today.

Tomorrow looks sunny, with the FAF at 1000’ early, rising to 4000’ (possibly higher, given the strength of the sun) by 2pm. Winds will be NE 15-25 in the morning, switching to NW 5-10 by 2pm.

Saturday starts off clear, with clouds moving in late in the day. The FAF will be 2500’ early, rising to 4000’ in the afternoon. Winds will be NW 20-30 early, switching to W 15-20 by 11am and going to WSW 20-25 by 4pm. The snow level will rise further overnight, going to 5000’ by 2am and 5500-6000’ by 5am. We’ll see precipitation start around 2am.

Sunday looks a little tricky and models are all over the place with precip amounts, showing anywhere between .5”-1.5” total. The most optimistic run shows .6” precip between 2am and noon, I think we’ll see a little snow mixed with rain or heavy rimed snow overnight Saturday into Sunday morning, possibly continuing through the morning. Precip tapers off by noon, picking up again after 4pm, with another .75-1.0” WV overnight. The snow level will be at 6000’ or so early, falling to 5000’ by 2pm and dropping rapidly to 2000’ after 4pm when the heaviest precipitation hits. So, I’ll go with 2-3” of sloppy wetness during the day down low and 4-6” of low-quality snow up high, followed by 5-7” down low overnight and 12-15” up high. Winds will be SW 35-40 early, picking up to SW 45-50 by 2pm for a blustery, but not disastrous, day on the slopes.

Monday looks awesome if you like skiing powder.

Next week looks, in NOAA’s words, “cool and unsettled,” meaning we’ll see more snow.

Not much going on in the way of wind.

Have a great day today!

Temira

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Good morning!

I wrote this forecast on Drew Parker’s 6am employee bus this morning.

It’s snowing on the hill. The snow level is around 1500’ this morning, and there’s plenty of moisture headed this way on the radar. We’ll see moderate snowfall through 8pm, becoming snow flurries after that. Precip today will total .75-1.0” WV for 6-9” additional snow. Most of that will fall before 4pm. Winds will be W 30-35 this morning, dropping a little bit to W 25-30 by 11am.

Tomorrow looks colder, with the snow level at 500-1000’. However, the sun is so strong that with partly cloudy skies tomorrow we’ll probably see higher apparent freezing levels with the sun affecting snow quality at lower elevations. We’ll see mostly clear skies with a couple of flurries. Wind tomorrow will be NW 15-20.

Friday looks clear, with the free air freezing level at 2000’ early, rising as the spring sun warms the slopes. Winds will be N 10-15, going to NW10-15 around 4pm.

Saturday looks snowy, with the snow level at 2000’. Even so, the atmospheric profile looks pretty stable, meaning the snow will be heavy. We’ll see .3-.5” WV starting around 5am for 3-5” of new. Winds Saturday will be W 20-25 in the morning, building to W 25-30 by 2pm.

Sunday is a long ways out, but holds potential for very messy weather as an upper level low swings up the coast from the south, bringing very strong wind and the (not very likely) potential for above-freezing temperatures on the hill, along with 1-1.5” WV and strong wind. Monday looks epic.

If you want wind, your best chance is gusty westerlies in the upper teens to low twenties in the desert today. The next few days look weak.

Have a great day today!

Temira

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