Yesterday was a spectacularly glassy day on the river, and hopefully you were able to make use of one of your floating objects to escape the heat. Today, Friday, is starting off with easterlies at 15-20 at Iwash (Rooster) Rock. We should see those east winds pick up to the 25-30 range midday, fading to E 15-20 late this afternoon. Steven’s Locks (Stevenson and Cascade Locks) will likely max out at 20-25 today. The rest of the Gorge should be glassy this morning with easterlies at 4-7 this afternoon. Continued after the chart…
| Your favorite beach | Dawn Patrol |
9am- 11:30a |
11:30a- 3pm |
3pm- dusk |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rooster Rock | E 15-20 | E 20-30 | E 20-30 | E 15-20 | |
| Steven’s Locks | E 10-15 | E 20-25 | E 20-25 | E 10-15 | |
| Hatchery/White Salmon Sandbar (minus a few for Hood River) | LTV | E 4-7 | E 4-7 | LTE | |
| Doug’s, Lyle, Rowena | LTV | E 4-7 | E 4-7 | LTE | |
| Rufus, etc. | LTV | LTV | LTV | LTV | |
| Roosevelt, etc. | LTV | LTV | LTV | LTV | |
|
|||||
Gorge wind forecast, continued…
Today’s easterlies will be the equivalent of turning a hairdryer on the Gorge, so feel free to wash your hair with something environmentally friendly and then stand on an exposed point to let it dry. In case you were wondering, 4911 fall Chinook made it past Bonneville yesterday, and so did 1397 steelhead.
Looking at Saturday, the thermal trough will be right over the top of western Oregon, leaving us with just light easterlies through the Gorge. At the most, we’ll see E 10-15 at Iwash (Rooster) Rock and Steven’s Locks, with light to glassy conditions everywhere else. That should make for good course racing at the Gorge Paddle Challenge at Hood River’s Waterfront Park. The thermal trough will move to the east in the evening and overnight, turning the wind onshore for Sunday.
Are you coming to the Gorge this weekend because of this forecast?
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Sunday starts out with westerlies at 17-20 or a touch less from Viento to the White Salmon Sandbar. We’ll see a slow and steady build, or maybe a quick and steady build, to 25-29 by early afternoon from Steven’s Locks all the way to Rufus. Those luck Gorge Paddle Challengers will have a good day for the Viento to Hood River downwind race.
If you were wondering about Monday, wonder no longer. Models suggest we’ll have 20-23 early and 23-26 in the afternoon.
Jones, Sauvie’s, Coast Beta Test Forecast
Jones Friday: no. Saturday: 16-19 late. Sunday: 22-25. Sauvie’s Friday: no. Saturday: 5-10. Sunday: 10-13. Coast (north/central/south). Friday: 15-20/?/LTS, NW swell 6′ at 9 seconds. Saturday: 5-10/no/no, NW 6′ @ 9. Sunday: 10-15/15-20/20-25+, NW 6′ @ 8.
Mt. Hood Snow Forecast
There will be snow on the ground at Mt. Hood today, and every day until the glaciers completely melt away.
Random Morning Thoughts
I was sitting here this morning trying to figure out what, if anything, I was going to reflect upon. I decided to take a moment to redo my fingernails while I waited to see if anything worthy arose. As I sat at my desk with the scent of non-acetone polish remover floating around me, I felt my body relax and my thoughts slow.
Even though I’m on vacation from school, life is still busy for me. Taking five minutes to give myself the gift of new polish is the equivalent of taking a mini-vacation, I suppose.
We drive ourselves so hard, we extreme sports people. For many of us, continually moving, continually learning, and continually becoming better at something is second nature. Stopping, slowing down, focusing on one minute aspect of experience… those things are not so natural.
We lose so much when we let quiet moments slip out of our lives. Quiet moments, by the way, don’t have to be moments of nothingness. They can be moments of simple doing – painting the fingernails (yes, even you cis-males), drinking coffee, eating chocolate – as long as we are completely in the moment and not looking forward to the next thing (for example, I’m now thinking of my next activity, road biking).
So, in the midst of all your “doing” today, take a minute to stop and stare at something beautiful, eat an ice-cold popsicle, enjoy the carbonation of a chilly glass of soda water, or feel the cool water on your skin as you jump into a body of water. It doesn’t take long to give your nervous system a mini-vacation, even if you don’t have time for a real vacation. Enjoy the heat today, and have an awesome day!
Disclaimer required by my grad school program: I am not your therapist (but I could be in 700 days). I am your weather forecaster. Take everything I say with a grain of salt, and consult with your actual therapist about your mental health issues. One other thing: I plan to keep doing this forecast indefinitely, even when I am a therapist.
Gorge Weather Forecast
The air is a touch more smoky this morning than it was yesterday, but it’s still a beautiful summer day. As an added bonus, it sure did cool off last night, so open up your windows and let in the cool! (I just opened all my windows and doors) Expect temps in the low 60’s this morning. The forecast for this afternoon is 99 degrees, but we hit 102 yesterday, so I bet we’ll break 100 again today. Light easterlies. No rainbows. Saturday starts off in the low 60’s and rises to the upper 90’s. Light wind. No rainbows. Sunday looks like mid 60’s early and upper 80’s in the afternoon. Moderate to strong west wind. No rainbows.
For weather specifically directed at travel through the Gorge, please visit Temira’s Awesome Travel Advisory Service on Facebook.
White Sprinter Van of the Day
Road and Mountain Biking
There are multiple trail work parties happening over the next few days: PCT at Cascade Locks on Friday (meet at 10am at PCT Days), Cooks Meadow on Saturday (meet at Little John Sno-Park at 9am), MTB trails near St. Helens Friday through Sunday – check NWTA’s website for that one. All trails on Kreps and SDS lands are now closed. That means Whoopdee and Hospital Hill. The ban is actually wider than that – all access is closed to all users. Yes, even you and your puppy. Everyone is banned from Kreps and SDS lands until fire season is over. Also, moto season is over in Post Canyon until fire season is over.
Upcoming Events
It’s a really busy weekend in the gorge, starting today with the Goldendale Festival of Wheels, Pacific Crest Trail Days in Cascade Locks, and the St. Helens International Festival of Trails at Marble Mountain Sno-Park. The Kickstand Coffee free donut and coffee run is this morning at 7, and there’s a trail work party on the PCT today at Cascade Locks from 10 to 4.
Tomorrow starts with the Uphill Challenge trail run at Mt. Hood Meadows, followed by a work party on the Cooks Meadow trail meeting at 9 at Little John Sno-Park. The Gorge Paddle Challenge happens tomorrow at Hood River’s Waterfront Park. There’s a free yoga class in The Dalles tomorrow at 10:30 at Lewis and Clark park, and the movie Zootopia plays tomorrow night at Jac kson Park in Hood River.
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
