Friday: four days of wind, three days of heat, two competitions, and one cooldown

The best snow forecast for Mt. Hood. The best wind forecast for the Gorge.

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The Forecast

Your favorite beach	Dawn Patrol	9am- 11:30a	11:30a- 3pm	3pm- dusk
Today’s Gorge Wind – these are ranges for the average speed, not a predicted wind range. =)
Rooster Rock	tanning	buns	oh so	fun
Stevenson	LTW	7-10	13-16	13-16
Viento	13-16	13-16	13-16	13-16
Swell (CLOSED) -Hood River	10-13	13-16	13-16	13-16
Lyle to Doug’s	7-10	7-10	13-16	16-19
Rufus, etc.	7-10	7-10	LTW	LTW
Roosevelt & Arlington	7-10	7-10	LTW	LTW

Gorge Wind Forecast

Happy Friday, everyone! TGIF! Today’s is the Bridge of the Gods Kitefest comp day. Head down there to check out the rippingest of young rippers. I haven’t seen an announcement yet, but it seems highly likely that the Blowout (downwinder from Stevenson to Hood River) will run on Sunday. This is the raddest of rad races, and if you’ve never done it, you should consider it. For any of you who want to get on the water, competing or not, if you can shred in 20mph or less, you’ll be on the water every day through Monday, at least!

Friday opens up with me back to forecasting in the mornings. That’s right: no more all-day Zoom! Pressures at 7am were 30.12/30.06/30.05 for gradients of 0.06 and 0.01. Stay west of The Dalles today; the eastern Gorge starts at 7-10mph and falls to nothin’ later. Viento, as usual, is your best shot early. It’ll hold at 15ish all morning. Other locations are going to require some patience. By early afternoon we should see 13-16 from Stevenson to Mosier. Thanks to thermal pressure, late afternoon wind should rise to 16-19 from Viento to The Dalles with 13-16 near Stevenson. River flow yesterday was 118-1178kcfs, river temp is 71F, and high temp forecast is 91F. Getting on the river in that heat will feel oh-so-good!

Heat all across the land on Saturday keeps the wind relatively light for most of the day, but an approaching trough (cooler air to the west) in the evening should give a bit of a kick to the wind. Early westerlies will be 14-17 from Viento to Swell with 10ish at Stevenson and light wind to the east of Swell. Midday wind falls to 10-13 and retreats to Stevenson and only Stevenson. Wait a few hours, and the wind should rise to 14-17 from Stevenson to Mosier. Evening wind tops out at 16-19 or a touch more from Stevenson to The Dalles. High temp: 96F. Again, the river will be a good place to be!

Dawn Patrol on Sunday will be 24-27 from Viento to Mosier with 7-10 to the east and 15ish at Stevenson. Get it quick, or you’ll have less; the wind dips to 21-24 from Stevenson to Mosier by mid-morning and rises to 14-17 from Lyle to Doug’s. East of there: light and variable. As cooler air pushes in to the west side, high pressure hangs offshore, and heat builds (and builds and builds) in the desert, westerlies pick up. But it’ll be late in the day. Expect 25-28 from Mosier to Rufus late afternoon with 17-20 (or less – the approaching trough will destabilize things enough to knock down the wind) west of Mosier. Hold out for the evening, and you’ll find 25-28 at Arlington as well. High temp for Hood River will be 91F or so. Rufus: 96F.

Reinforcing cool air, marine clouds, and perhaps even a little drizzle in the metro area starts your Monday. This is the cooldown you’ve been looking for. As of this morning, we’re expecting 27-31 from Mosier to Arlington. Westerlies will pick up to the west of Mosier as the clouds burn off, but the continued presence of the marine layer will make the wind gusty. Head east for the best results. High temp: perfectly blissful in the upper 70’s. Models display lots of uncertainty from Tuesday onward, so we’ll leave it there for now. Have a great day. Stay cool!

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Jones, Sauvie’s, Coast

Wind speed in knots. Direction Northerly unless otherwise noted for Coast. Westerly for Jones. Northerly for Sauvie Island. North/Central/South, waves. Wave forecast provided by NWS. Friday: 15-20/20-25/25-30, W swell 2′ at 10 seconds. Saturday: 15-20/15-20/30-35, W 3′ @ 9. Sunday: 10-15/15/30-35, W 3′ @ 9. Jones Friday: 14-17. Saturday: 22-25. Sunday: 21-24. Sauvie Island Friday: 11-14. Saturday: 16-19. Sunday: 15-18.

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

On vacation until fall unless something extraordinary happens.

Hood River Weather Forecast

Mostly clear sky adds and subtracts some high clouds today. Temps will be in the mid 60’s early and low 90’s later. Moderate westerlies. NO rainbows. Saturday will be mostly clear early and increasingly high overcast. Temps start in the low 60’s and rise to the mid 90’s. Moderate westerlies. No rainbows. Sunday will be clear and then high overcast. Temps start in the mid 60’s and rise to the low 90’s. Moderate to strong westerlies. No rainbows.

Looking for a complete Columbia Gorge forecast? Looking for more humor in your weather? Obscenities? You’re looking for my TATAS: Temira’s Awesome Travel Advisory Service on Facebook.

Local-ish Events

Please let me know of outdoor-related local-ish events. If you don’t tell me, I don’t know!

This week is the Gorge Downwind Champs. Hundreds and hundreds of paddlers will be downwinding from Stevenson all week long. Bridge of the Gods Kitefest and the Blowout are Friday through Sunday.

There’s a free weekly wing foil orientation at the Hook Thursdays in July and August from 5:30pm to 7:30pm brought to you by Wylde Wind and Water and CGW2. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 9am, Max from GoFoil will be teaching flatwater foil pop-up technique at the Event Site. You can demo some GoFoil gear there too! He hopes to also teach bump classes in the afternoon on those days should the Hatch reopen.

Regular weekly events: NK Studios in Bingen has a donation-based yoga class at 7:30am every Tuesday. Ferment’s Tuesday night 4-mile walk/run is at 6pm. There’s meditation with monks at 5:15pm (an hour) and 6:30pm (30 minutes plus a talk) at Yoga Samadhi in White Salmon. At 7:15am on Wednesdays, there’s a run from the White Salmon Bakery. At 7am on Friday morning, there’s a run from Pine Street Bakery. On Fridays at 2:30pm, there’s a free meditation and stretching class at Yoga Samadhi. On Saturday at 9am, there’s a by-donation outdoor group fitness on the 2rd floor deck above Ferment Brewing.

Regular bike rides (thanks to the Hood River Area Trail Stewards for collecting). Tuesday is Mountain View’s ride. Meet at 5:45pm on Post Canyon Drive where the pavement ends. Wednesday is the Evo/Kickstand all-ability, no-drop Post Canyon ride. 5:30 from the shop or join along the way. All abilities welcome. Thursday is Mountain View’s women’s ride. 5:30pm, Seven Streams Trailhead. No drop. Thursday is also the Dirty Fingers Post and Pint. 5:30 from the shop or later at Family Man. This is hardcore, race-pace. Saturday morning is the Mountain View road/gravel ride. Two hours. 12-14mph average speed. Starting May 6th, Oregon Ebikes has the women’s ride at 8:30am. Meet at Seven Streams parking lot for a 1.5 to 2 hour ride.

Cycling

All trails on the 44 Road are now open. There is a fire near Boulder Lakes, and that area is under a level 3 evacuation order. That probably means Gunsight is closed at this time. Plains of Abraham is open. That completes our reporting for the summer: all trails are now open! Logging is happening on Hospital Hill. This means you cannot make a full circle – there is no connection between the front side and back side. You could ride Bad Wolf and Millennium as a loop. You can ride Roll Baby Roll and Triple Bypass as a loop. You cannot access Treehugger/Crazy Fingers at this time. Always remember to consider gravel riding! If you’re parking at Post Canyon, you will need a parking pass. Those can be purchased at many local shops or online.