The Gorge is my Gym

Good morning!

I hope you have your ark keys handy, because it’s drenchingly wet outside this morning. I’m not sure who’s stoked by this weather except for lazy gardeners like me and the whitewater boaters, because the river levels are going up. The latest numbers I have are 4.2 feet for the Hood and 2300 cfs for the Klickitat, but those are from last night.

If you’re hoping for windsurfing or kiting today, your best bet is late this evening near Hood River, where we might see some 10-15 mph westerlies. It’ll be enough to race the sailboats tonight, but it’s going to be a bit wet and chilly out there.

Tomorrow looks very light, but Friday morning brings solid easterlies as a low slides up the coast, followed by a quick switch to westerlies in the afternoon, with more rain as the low move east over Washington.

If you were thinking of heading to the mountains for backcountry skiing or climbing today, please don’t. Save the Crag Rats from having to come up and search-and-rescue you. With snow levels at 8,000 feet and rain pouring down, the avalanche danger is going to be super high for the next few days.

That pretty much leaves the weekend to talk about. There’s a bunch going on, including the Tour de Hood bike ride, the White Salmon Riverfest, and National Trails Day, among other rain-soaked activities.

Have a great day today!

Temira

Good morning!

We’re starting off with some light westerlies this morning and a .04 gradient from Portland to The Dalles. As a system approaches this afternoon, westerlies pick up into the 14-18 range from Stevenson to Hood River, spreading further east late in the day.

There might be some light westerlies on Wednesday, but you’re probably not going to want to be outside, as an almost-pineapple express drops 1-3” of rain on our heads. Oh, doesn’t that sound delightful? I would almost prefer the pineapple express dropping pineapples, because pineapples, especially bush-ripened pineapples are delicious and 1-3” of rain with the snow levels at 7,000 feet is not very helpful to me. Hopefully you find that kind of rain helpful. At this point, Thursday’s looks not-very-windy and still pretty rainy.

I kinda wish I could play some sort of emergency alert sound, because this is a special alert for mountain bikers and dirt bikers. Today is your last chance to ride this week without destroying the trails, as a lot of rain is headed our way. We’ll see half an inch starting late this afternoon and another inch or two tomorrow, meaning the trails will become mud bogs.

If you want to get in one last ride before the rain hits, here’s a heads up: 8 mile is now open and clear of trees. Knebal is supposedly rideable, but still has about 15 downed trees. I have a report that the Super D course was super-muddy yesterday at 3pm, but I’m hoping it dries out by noon, because I’m planning on pedaling up there today with Denise, and we’ll be sad if we have to ride back down the road. :’( :’( (I don’t know how to make emoticon bikes – just sad faces)

All that rain is going to help out you boaters, but for now, the Hood’s at a happy 4.2 feet, the White Salmon’s around 3.6 feet, and the Klickitat’s at 2260 cfs. Don’t forget that the White Salmon Riverfest starts on Friday, with lots of fun events including $5 kayak races, which should be super fun with all the water coming in!

Have a great day today, and make the most of the dry weather. Maybe we can bake pineapple upside-down cake tomorrow!

Temira