The Gorge is my Gym

Good morning!

It’s 36 degrees at Larry’s house as I write this forecast at 7:30am. I’m not sure of the temperatures at Stevenson or Rooster Rock, but I’m guessing it’s chilly at the beach as well. However, it is windy, with a .13 gradient driving low thirties at Rooster and low twenties at Stevenson.

We’ll see 30ish at Rooster this morning and 24-27 at Stevenson. As always with easterlies, you must get it early.

Tomorrow doesn’t look windy, unless you’re headed to the coast for a 30+ knot southerly wavesailing or speedsailing session. The upper low driving tomorrow’s south wind will be followed by a second upper low on Friday, for a second round of coastal speedsailing.

The real weather fun begins on Friday, as the first in a series of systems hits the Northwest. The final result of this change in the weather – due to the jet stream changing course and slamming directly into Oregon – is, in NOAA’s words, “SNOW LEVELS MAY FALL BELOW THE CASCADE PASSES BEGINNING LATE SUNDAY AND MONDAY FOR SIGNIFICANT MOUNTAIN SNOW. STAY TUNED.”

Here’s the synopsis: rain should start late Thursday night into Friday morning. ½” of water value Friday, ¾” on Saturday, 2-3” Sunday, 1” on Monday. At some point Sunday, the snow level will drop to 4-5k. On Monday, snow levels fall to 3-4k. This is low enough that we’ll see snow at Skibowl, T-Line and Meadows. I’m waiting until Saturday to see when the snow levels drop to see if it’s worth skiing Sunday. Stay tuned.

Speaking of skiing, if you want lift-serve, remember that T-line is only open Fri-Sun at this point. However, your winter Fusion Pass will get you on the slopes. Assuming visibility and avy danger are okay, Monday should be a decent day for skinning. This storm is coming in warm and cooling off, so it’s going to be good base-building snow. Keep your fingers crossed for a stable snowpack this winter!

Finally, if you’re looking for something to do on this rainy weekend, Mark Nilsson is having an “I’m going to Paris to celebrate my big birthday” Studio Sale from 10-5 on 7 E. Hazel in Hood River. Come pick up some cool paintings and meet the cool artist.

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 May 2011, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.

Good morning!

Being a bit on the spacey side, I sometimes forget to do important things. For example, this month I forgot to pay my internet bill, so Gorge.net shut me off over the weekend. I haven’t had an internet-free day for a very long time, so I didn’t turn the internet back on yet. You’re getting this forecast courtesy of the free internet at Dog River Coffee.

It doesn’t look like we’ll see much in the way of wind between now and Thursday, either here or at the coast, with the exception of today at Pistol River. Wednesday look like a good day for surfing, with zero wind at the coast.

If you like doing anything outdoors, pile it in during the next few days. Starting Thursday night, the heavens will open up. If models are correct, we’ll see up to a quarter inch of rain Friday, but then Mt. Hood and Adams will see 2-3” of rain on Saturday, 2” or so on Sunday and another inch or so on Monday. Expect totals in the 1” rain each day in Hood River. That’s wet!

The snow level will be 5-6k on Saturday, 4-5k on Sunday, and 5-6k on Monday. That’s probably not quite low enough to get Meadows open, and definitely not low enough to open up Skibowl, but Timberline will see a lot of new Cascade Concrete this weekend.

More importantly, we’re going to see the rivers come up a lot this weekend. Expect the Hood to come in, expect the Klickitat to get over 1000cfs, and expect the White Salmon to get over 2 ¼ feet, possibly over 2 ½ feet. Yes, I know these are bold predictions, but the models are predicting bold rainfall. Cross your fingers that it holds!

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 May 2011, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.