Friday: lots of snow coming. west wind too!

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

Thank you for using this forecast. Like it? Find it useful? Support it (and me!) by sending some cash my way. What’s it cost to support me and get the email version? Not $99 a year. Nope. Not $49. Just $19.99 or more gets you a year. People are added to this list on Thursday and Sunday. My day job is crisis mental health, and I don’t have time on other days. Thanks for your patience! Click below to contribute. Thank you!!

Auto-renewing subscription. Easy. Awesome. Set and forget!

Thank you for contributing and keeping this forecast going! Not ready to subscribe? No problem – please share this forecast with all your friends too! I appreciate your support!

The Forecast

Snow level	4a-8a	8a-12p	12p-4p	4p-8p	8p-4a
Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
Friday 2500′->2000′
Saturday 2000′->1500′
Sunday 1500′->1000

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

Good morning, skiers and snowboarders and Nordic friends. Argh. I just wrote this entire forecast, and Open Office crashed without saving it. Mother Nature tossed a curveball at us – the weather turned too warm for snow yesterday, and we only picked up an inch of new. We’ll do better than that going forward. We’re looking at very active weather for the next week with lots of snow. That said, 7-day percentiles really dropped in the 00Z model run from where they were yesterday. We were looking at about three feet, now they’re calling for 10” at the 25th, 12” at the 50th, and 16” at the 90th. I think we’ll do better than that. The problem lies in the precip type for the Monday-Wednesday system. Let’s start with Friday… (and I’ll hit save way more frequently this time)

Lingering orographic snow flurries give way to sunshine. The snow level will be 3000′ in the morning. The freezing level drops to 2000′ this afternoon. About 0.1” water equivalent (WE) is forecast this morning for an inch of new. Wind: WNW 35-45 this morning, W 30 this afternoon, and W 40 after midnight.

Strong wind and plentiful moisture on Saturday sets us up for a real nice snowfall. The snow level will be 2500′ early and will fall to 1000-1500′ in the afternoon. About 0.6” WE is forecast during the day, for 6-7” powder. Another 0.4” WE is forecast overnight for another 4-5” powder. Model range is 1.0” to 1.25”, and all this comes in with strong NW wind. We could exceed the basic prediction of a foot by 30-40%. I would like that, and so would you! Wind: W 40 early, NW 35-45 all day, and WNW 30-35 overnight.

Sunday starts with lingering orographic snowfall and turns clear. Light snowfall returns overnight. The snow level will be 1000-1500′ all day long. About 0.1” to 0.2” WE is forecast prior to the sky clearing. Call that 1-2” new snow. Wind: WNW 30-40 early, NNW 15-20 mid-morning, NW 15-20 in the afternoon, and WSW 10-15 overnight.

Another system is forecast Monday morning through Wednesday morning. This one packs a punch, but it also has the potential to pack a period of rain. This really depends on the exact path taken by the incoming system. That said, a lot of the moisture will fall as snow. We’re expecting about 3” WE over that time period. Rather than making a prediction, I’m going to hold off and see what the next few rounds of model runs bring. Fingers crossed for temps at 0C or less!

Gorge Wind Forecast

Hi friends! We’ve got a rare stretch of winter westerlies on tap. At least one or two of these will be enough for you to get on the water with some big swell. Friday starts with pressures of 30.37/30.33/30.26 for gradients of 0.03 and 0.07. Not much will happen in the western Gorge. Head east of The Dalles for gusty 19-23 from 10am to 2pm with 13-16 after that. Don’t forget to get some Indian food at Amayah’s or Tadka on the way home! Saturday starts with pouring rain in the western Gorge. Don’t be dissuaded. The 00Z takes the wind to 23-26 or a touch more from Stevenson to The Dalles from sunrise to early afternoon. The wind will fill in at least as far as Rufus, and there’s a chance of 26-29 from Mosier eastward. High temp: 424F under partly cloudy sky. Sunday starts with 10-13 out east and fades to light/variable. The western Gorge starts with 5-10 and rises to 10-13.

Extended: models return the easterlies and potentially mix them with snow on Monday. E 30 with rain in the west and (probably) snow near Hood River. About a third to half of the ensemble members bring in a strong to very strong west wind day on either Tuesday or Thursday. Beyond that, models really struggle as they try to parse the potential for an outbreak of arctic air. We’ll leave it there for now. See you on the river!

FORECAST SPONSORED BY / AWESOME COMPANIES TO SUPPORT

Jones, Sauvie’s, Coast – On vacation ‘til summer unless otherwise noted

Hood River Weather Forecast

Partly cloudy sky this morning adds high clouds later. A few sprinkles are possible through 1pm. Temps will be in the mid 40’s all day. Light westerlies. 28% chance of rainbows. Saturday will be cloudy with rain then partly cloudy from late morning on. Temps start in the mid 30’s and rise to the low 40’s. Calm wind early. Strong westerlies from mid-morning on. 98% chance of rainbows. Sunday will be partly cloudy. Temps start in the mid 30’s and rise to the low 40’s. Light 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!

The Teacup Tea Party is 1/13 at Teacup with free beginner and intermediate skate and classic ski lessons. Hood River Rotary Night at Meadows is Monday, 1/15. Registration is open for Gorge Ultimate winter league. Sign up here: https://gorge.ultimatecentral.com/e/winter-league-2024 – Teacup has an après ski fundraiser at the Ruins on January 27th. $25. Amayah’s Indian Cafe (Biggs) offers a free meal every first Thursday from 1-4pm.

Regular weekly events:. NK Studio’s by-donation Tuesday morning yoga class is back. 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. The Tri Club is done for the season. 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 about Ferment Brewing.

Cycling

Regarding the trails in general: don’t ride in the mud. You’ll damage the trails. Don’t ride trails if it was below freezing the previous night and is above freezing when you want to ride. Ride gravel. Ride your trainer. Build trails. There are trail builders seeking extra hands on seven additional miles of trail on Whoopdee. Contact HRATS for more information. If you’re parking at Post Canyon, you will need a parking pass. Those can be purchased at many local shops or online.