The Gorge is my Gym

Good morning everyone,

I slept in this morning. It’s amazing how many hours I can sleep once my alarm clock is turned off. I managed 11 last night. Yes, 11 glorious hours of uninterrupted sleep.

I woke up to strange weather on the river. It’s blowing 29 out of the east at Maryhill and John Day. That’s just bizarre. If you take a look at the radar picture at http://webpages.charter.net/hoodriverweather/weather.htm , you can see why. There’s a strong upper level low sitting in east central Oregon, and the weather is rotating counter-clockwise around it.

So, as far as what you should do today, well, I’m going to vote for mountain biking. I think the weather situation is too unpredictable to let today’s outdoor happiness hinge on windsurfing or kiting.

It’s looking like the wind will pick up again along the coast starting Tuesday, and with high pressure forecast over the region all week, we might get a few more days of wavesailing.

Stay warm today, and have a great day!

Oh, and thanks again to the people who’ve taken time to make a donation to me for this summer’s forecast. I promise I’m not taking you for granted… just working my way slowly through the thank you emails…

Good morning everyone!

First, thanks to all of you who’ve taken time to show your appreciation for this forecast by making a donation via PayPal. You’ll be receiving your thank you brownies soon… okay, maybe just a thank you note, but I do appreciate you as much as you appreciate me. =)

Second, today is Hops Fest in Hood River. I’ll be working at the Meadows booth from 12-4, so stop by and say hello.

Now, on to the forecast.

There’s not much going on for wind chasers today. Cold showery air pours into the Northwest today (so enjoy the morning sunshine), bringing a few inches of snow to the mountains. Light west winds will keep the falling leaves rustling, and we might see a few scraggly whitecaps, but that’s about it.

Tomorrow’s setup is, honestly, a bit baffling to me. A wintry upper level low sits over the southern Oregon/Idaho border. Upper flow around this low will be southeast. However, with weak high pressure off the coast, surface gradients will be westerly… very westerly. We’ll also see clouds and rain with this setup. So, the question is whether the surface gradients will produce surface wind, or whether the showers, possible thundershowers, and rain will make conditions unsailable and unkiteable.

If this setup works in our favor, we’ll see strong west winds through the entire Gorge. If not, we can just go mountain biking (or sledding up on the mountain) because the trails are in awesome shape.

Okay, time to go do the stairs. Have a great day today, and don’t drink too much beer!