The Gorge is my Gym

Good morning!

We’re stuck in a fall-like pattern the next couple of days with cloudy skies, a chance of rain, and gusty west wind. As an upper level low makes its way east of the Cascades over the next couple of days, the westerlies will pick up.

Today looks very gusty, with 15-19 from Hood River out to The Dalles, and possibly as far east as Rufus. Winds pick up a little in the afternoon as the desert warms up a little, building into the gusty 19-24 range.

The upper level low moves east of the Cascades tomorrow, and high pressure slowly fills in behind. It’s still going to be pretty cloudy in the western Gorge, so we’ll see gusty 13-18 all day there. Doug’s, Maryhill, and Arlington see 23-26 in the afternoon.

Boaters, tonight’s the Kayak Shed’s shop paddle, and my friend Devin’s running the Midlde for the first time. Come on out and support him. The White Salmon’s still at 1 ¾ feet, and the Tieton, if you want to road trip, is at 1820 cfs and rising daily.

Finally, the snow level’s right around 7000 feet right now, I can see a ton of new snow on Adams, and Timberline and Skibowl announced the Fusion Pass pricing yesterday. It’s $449 this year, the same as a Meadows pass. You have until November 7th to purchase a ski pass somewhere at the discounted rates for this epic La Nina season! It wouldn’t surprise me if you could ski powder today!

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

Good morning!

It’s Locals Day today, and that means it’s time to head to downtown Hood River to experience crowd-free shopping and extra attention from relaxed salespeople. Wander down to 2nd Wind to check out the final couple of weeks of windsurfing and kiting season in the shop. The big rearranging day is coming, when 2nd Wind morphs into a ski shop. But before that happens, you can score some great deals on kites and boards from this season and skis from last season.

It’s going to be a very cool and cloudy day today as a low pressure system parks over the Northwest, bringing a chance of rain and even a chance of some thunderstorms. With this setup, gradients are very light this morning, just .04 from Portland to The Dalles, and they’ll remain light until afternoon, when we’ll see gusty 13-18 from Hood River east to Maryhill.

Tomorrow morning looks quite similar, as low pressure stays parked over the Cascades and the north pacific high stays out of the picture. The upper low that moves over the western half of the region today shifts east tomorrow afternoon, setting up stronger gradients. We should see mid-twenties from Doug’s to Rufus tomorrow, with less wind in the central Gorge.

Forecasting more than a day or two out in the fall is quite difficult, but at this point, it looks like the west winds will keep blowing on Thursday, with mid-twenties east of The Dalles in the afternoon.

With the light wind in the mornings this week, it’s time to begin training for ski season. I don’t know what that means for you, but for me, it means doing the Hood River stairclimb and riding up big hills on my road bike. See you out there! .

If you are looking for a good workout tonight, there’s the Tuesday night triathlon practice at the Hood River Event Site. If you show up at 6pm, you can join the crew for a friendly 500 yard swim, 2 mile run and 8 mile bike ride. And if you can’t make it tonight, they’ll be doing the workout again on Thursday evening.

Boaters, the White Salmon’s still around 1 ¾ feet, the Klickitat’s just over 700 cfs and the Tieton River is at 1780 cfs!

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