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

First off this morning, some sad news. Charlie Laventure passed away after a long battle with leukemia. If you didn’t know Charlie, you missed out. He would have been your hero. Charlie played. He played a lot. He surfed and he rode his bike and his motorcycle, and… you get the picture. On top of that, he was bright and funny and kind, and from what I hear, an awesome dad. Whenever Charlie said “hi” to me, I was honored that he was my friend.

And now this forecast gets more depressing.

Leave some space in your thoughts today for the friends and family of Maggie Guth, former server at Abruzzo, who died yesterday. Maggie was tall and beautiful and had a great smile, and a promising life ahead of her. I didn’t know her well, but I know that she and Silas fed me delicious chicken eggs, and her comments at Abruzzo always made me laugh.

The only thing I can say in response to all this death is that you, yes you, had damned well better get outside and do something fun today. Either that, or you should spend time with a friend you haven’t seen in a while, preferably doing something outside (go show Mother Nature that her gray weather isn’t intimidating you).

If you’d like to show your defiance by kiting or windsurfing today, you might get a chance late today. The wind quality will be quite poor, and probably in the 16-19 range in the Corridor, but better than no wind. Models show wind in the desert tomorrow, but I’m not convinced.

Your best bet for outdoor entertainment today is going to be mountain biking (Syncline or frontside HH), or looking for mushrooms.

The snow has left the Northwest (it’s raining at Meadows), but the Hood River Ski and Gear Swap starts tomorrow afternoon. You can get your pass picture taken and pick up tickets to the Hood River Snow show on November 21st. What’s that? Think major snow show on a Hood River scale. Ski movie, snowboard movie, lots of cool new gear to touch, and family friendly (with beer and wine flowing for the grownups). $5 gets you a ticket. There’s a raffle too, with a pair of Line skis, a snowboard, and a season pass up for grabs. All proceeds to go benefit local youth ski and snowboard teams. See you there!

Have a great day today!

It’s a Wednesday break in the weather, and if you can skin up a glacier and ski down, you’re making the right choice today! Other fun suggestions include road biking, mountain biking at the Syncline, or just staring at snow-covered Hood and Adams.

Light winds grace the Gorge today, and that’s a good thing, as it’s only going to be 50 degrees.

Models suggest the wind will pick up again tomorrow as a warm front swings into the Gorge. I don’t agree with the 30ish suggested by those models. I think we’ll see gusty, inconsistent mid-twenties – and that’s the strongest-case scenario – starting late afternoon.

On Friday, the cold front swings through, with wind strength similar to Thursday.

If you enjoyed the snow on Hood and Adams, wave goodbye to it today. The snow level rises to 8-10,000 feet tomorrow afternoon, washing all the snow into the rivers. That’s a good thing if you’re a high-water boater. Throw your kayak on your roof rack and get ready!

Other than that, there’s a screening of the movie Food, Inc., tonight at Columbia Center for the Arts at 7pm. Come watch it, be scared, and join a community discussion forum (is that redundant?) afterward.

Have a great day today!