The Gorge is my Gym

You are getting your forecast now, but I was writing it a few hours ago. A few minutes before that, I was dreaming that I was writing and recording the forecast. I almost turned off my alarm clock because I was convinced I’d already done the recording for the radio. It hardly seems fair that my brain thinks I did the forecast twice today. Do you think I can convince the radio station to pay me double?

Anywa, first off, many thanks to everyone who helped out with the Doug’s Beach work party yesterday!

On the wind front, today looks like another wacky gorge flip-flop day. Gradients were still 08 westerly early (at 5:45), but they’re going to switch around to easterly pretty quickly. By late this afternoon, we’ll have a chance of sailable east winds down in Stevenson or at Rooster Rock.

Honestly, though, I think your best bet today is to head to the coast. It’s looking like 15-20 on the north coast and 20-25 on the central, with stronger wind down south. Combine that with a 7 foot west swell at 11 seconds and it might just be epic out there. For the best combination of wind and waves, head to Florence or Pistol!

If that’s not strong enough wind for you, get ready for nuclear east winds at Stevenson and Rooster tomorrow. Models are showing massive gradients the next couple of days, so 30-plus is the conservative call tomorrow, with gusts into the 40’s. Wednesday looks like a repeat of Tuesday.

If you’re more in the mood for sports spectating today, head up to the Hood River County fairground to watch the Doublecross Cyclocross race. If you’d rather ride your bike, the trails are pretty dusty right now. On a brighter note, the man-made features are still tacky, so get your downhill bike out.

And speaking of biking, mark your calendar for the annual Dirty Fingers Bike Repair campout next weekend at Lewis River.

Whatever you do today, have an awesome day!

All you windsurfers, don’t forget that there’s a work party at Doug’s Beach this morning from 9 until noon. Hopefully the rain will hold off out there! Go help CGWA make your beach a better beach! And then there’s that bit about building up some windsurfing karma. You can spend that at any local Karma Convini store.

It’s 6am as I record this, and it’s dark. That makes it hard to see the cloud line, but it’s somewhere past Hood River. Steadiest winds will be east of Hood River today. In town, under the clouds, we’ll see gusty 15-20 westerlies. Out east, high pressure off the coast combines with a passing front for 25-29. The direction tends to be pretty good with this setup, so Doug’s and Maryhill should end up being the good spots today.

Since this is a frontal setup, there’s a good chance we’ll see strong gradients and lesser, gustier winds. 25-29 is a slightly optimistic guess, 23-25 is almost guaranteed, and there’s a slight chance of 30ish late in the day, after the front passes and high pressure pushes towards the coast.

Today’s strong west winds give way to weaker westerlies early tomorrow morning as high pressure fills inland. By midday, however, west winds die and easterlies start blowing. If you get up really early, you can catch both. It think we’ll see 15-18 west, switching to 17-20 east tomorrow.

High pressure builds Sunday night, setting up a big east wind day on Monday. All the models are showing 30+ and NOAA’s calling for gusts to 40. So, pack your small gear in the car and head to Stevenson or Rooster Rock on Monday morning.

In other news, this weekend is the Hood River cyclocross race at the Middle School on Saturday and at the fairgrounds on Sunday. Now if we’d only get some rain, cuz cyclocross is better in the mud.

Have a great day today!