The Gorge is my Gym

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Good morning!

Today is the calm before the storm, as far as mountain weather goes. We’ll see trace amounts at Mt. Hood today, and then starting tomorrow morning, all hell breaks loose on the hill. Okay, that’s exaggerating it, as there’s only a strong front passing, not a massive upper level low, but it’s fun to exaggerate!

Starting around 1am tomorrow morning, precipitation starts at Mt. Hood. We’ll see .5”-.75” tomorrow morning through tomorrow afternoon. At this point, models are showing above-freezing temperatures (2-4°C) up to about 6500 feet. Since we can see snow up to about 2°, we might sneak by with snow during this storm. A more likely scenario is a mix of rain and snow to the top of Mt. Hood Express at Meadows, rain at Skibowl, and snow on the higher lifts at Meadows and Timberline. Higher elevations at the resorts will see 6-8” of snow tomorrow with significant drifting from 40mph south-southwest wind. Incidentally, the lower elevations at Meadows tend to be protected from southerly wind, so the skiing, if it’s not raining, could be quite good.

Temperatures hold around 2°C through Thursday, when we’ll see another 1” or so of water equivalent for 10-12” of snow above 5000’. Free air winds switch to westerly at 40mph, giving us 25-35 on the slopes at Meadows.

Snow levels and windspeeds drop on Friday, with another 6-8” of snow from 3500-4000’ on up.

At this point, Saturday looks ugly, so we’re not going to talk about it in the hope that the forecast will change.

If you want to go windsurfing or kiting, the gradient is .26 east right now, for 39 @ Stevenson and 45 @ Rooster (thank you iWindsurf for that information).

As for the weather in the Gorge, above-freezing temperatures at this time suggest we’ll see rain or sleet, rather than freezing rain, tomorrow, as the ground isn’t cold enough to freeze precipitation on contact. That’s a nice change, isn’t it? =)

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

p.s. If you find this report useful, entertaining, or just want to recognize all the hard work that goes into it, please take the time to make a donation by clicking on the button at the bottom of the page. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til November 2011, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.

The Clymb: free membership.
Access to super cheap gear including Trew, Zeal, Sierra Designs, and many more.

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Good morning!

It’s 5:45am and I’m sitting on my couch after a long weekend on the hill, thinking that it would be fun to go windsurfing today. Sometimes the thoughts that enter my head are quite disturbing. After all, I’m cold just sitting here, and now I’m thinking of throwing myself into a 45° river in 39° air.

The 5am gradient was .22 east, and that’s enough for 45-50 at Rooster and soon, 30+ at Stevenson. The gradient will start dropping this afternoon, but we’ll still have enough gradient tomorrow for 30ish at Rooster and 20ish at Stevenson. By midday Wednesday, the gradient should equalize across the Cascades.

That’s important because there’s another storm headed our way, and east gradients and cold air underneath an incoming system mean nasty weather in the Gorge. We’ll see .5-.75” of moisture headed this way from the south Monday night into Tuesday morning. Given how warm temperatures are expected to be at 850mb (approximately 5000’), and how close to freezing temps are in the Gorge, I think we’re most likely to see sleet or freezing rain from this storm, and possibly even just plain old rain. (that forecast should make it snow 2 feet!)

In the mountains, this system is probably going to fall as rain up to about 5500’. That’s not terrible if you ski at MHM or at T-Line, but it’s not so great if you want to shred Upper Bowl at Skibowl. Winds will be moderate with this first system, blowing out of the south at 20-25mph.

Another system rolls in Tuesday night. At this point, temperatures will be just above freezing at 5000’, which may keep the precipitation falling as snow. Cross your fingers, because the mountains will see another .75-1” of water value out of the Tuesday night storm. Best bet for good skiing, then, would be Wednesday. However, given the marginal freezing levels, hold out another day before you start clearing your schedule.

In addition, mountain winds will be quite strong with this second system, somewhere in the 30-50mph range Tuesday night through Thursday morning. Timberline will take the brunt of the wind, as they’re more exposed to the southerlies that will accompany this storm. However, it’s going to be quite windy at Meadows as well. Forget about Cascade and Vista, and you can probably forget about Heather Canyon proper due to increasing avalanche danger.

I’m trying not to think about the extended forecast, as it doesn’t look good, unless you’re a kayaker looking for lots of water in the rivers.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

p.s. If you find this report useful, entertaining, or just want to recognize all the hard work that goes into it, please take the time to make a donation by clicking on the button at the bottom of the page. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til November 2011, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.