Saturday: blower pow day! - The Gorge is my Gym

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

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The Forecast

	4a-8a	8a-12p	12p-4p	4p-8p	8p-4a
Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
Saturday 1000′->2000->1000′
Sunday 1000′->2500′->0′
Monday 0′->3000′

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

It’s Saturday, and it’s truly an epic day on the slopes. 19” of dry, blower powder fell over the last 24 hours with 27” over the last 48 hours. It’s going to be slamming busy today and probably tomorrow too. Catch the CAT bus, hitch, or carpool for best results. The snowfall tapers off this afternoon, and the weather turns clear Sunday into Monday. A bit of snow is forecast Monday with a rare easterly orographic snowstorm on Tuesday. After that: dry until next weekend when models hint at another massive snowfall.

Let’s look at Saturday. The powder is stellar all the way down to low elevations. The Nordic skiing: soft. Real soft. The snow level today will be 1000′ this morning, 2000′ this afternoon, and 0-1000′ overnight under mostly clear sky. Daytime snowfall will be 0.2”-0.4” WE (thanks, orographics) for 2-4” fresh. Overnight, just a trace to an inch. Wind will be NW 20-30 this morning, NW 10-15 this afternoon, and NW 15-25 overnight.

Sunday will be sunny. The free air freezing level (FAF) starts at 1000′, rises to 2000′, and falls to 0-1000′ overnight. No precip. Wind: NW 15-25 early, W 10 in the afternoon, and S 10-15 overnight. Monday starts out sunny. High clouds arrive in the afternoon, and snow starts up around midnight. The snow level will be 3500′ in the afternoon and will fall to 1000′ (environmental snow level per 850mb temps of -2C = 4000′) overnight. Models disagree on how much snow, so for now, let’s call it a couple inches. Wind will be S 5-15 in the morning, SE 30-35 in the afternoon (could affect lifts at Timberline and perhaps Meadows) and SSE 30 after midnight.

Those strong easterlies drive an easterly orographic snowstorm on Tuesday. This is a tricky situation to predict, and also a ways out. As of this morning, it looks like Mt. Hood could pick up 6” of new. Easterlies fade from 30mph in the morning to 15mp in the afternoon. As of this morning, Wednesday and Thursday look warmer and sunnier. The next system, still of uncertain intensity but definitely cold enough for snow and likely bringing a lot of snow, arrives sometime Friday and continues through Saturday. Probably. Enjoy!

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Gorge Wind Forecast

Westerlies today, westerlies tomorrow, and then it’s back to easterlies on Monday… For Saturday, we’ll have strong offshore high pressure. Early pressures were 30.29/30.24/30.19 and westerlies were generally in the 5-15 range all through the Gorge. We’ll see a slow drop east of The Dalles today and a slow build to 21-24 form Stevenson to The Dalles. You’ll need to give it til the afternoon. River flow readings are 81-90kcfs, river temp is 42F, and high temp forecast is 46F. Sunday starts with 10-13 all through the Gorge. Afternoon westerlies pick up to 17-20 from Mosier to Biggs with 10-3 to the west. High temp: 48F. Monday starts with E 15 from Rooster to Viento. Afternoon wind climbs to 20-30 at Stevenson, 20-25 at Rooster, and 15-20 all the way from Viento to Arlington. High temp: 53F.

Jones, Sauvie Island, Coast – Done for the Season

Hood River Weather Forecast

Showery weather this morning gives way to partly cloudy sky this afternoon. Temps will be in the mid 30’s early and mid 40’s later. Light westerlies early. Moderate westerlies this afternoon. 81% chance of rainbows. Sunday will be partly cloudy. Temps start in the low-mid 30’s and rise to the upper 40’s. Moderate westerlies. No rainbows. Monday will be clear or partial Nothing to start and will turn cloudy in the afternoon. Drizzle arrives overnight. Temps start in the upper 20’s and rise to the low 50’s. Widespread moderate easterlies. 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 Meadows Strava Nordic race started 3/17. There’s a (secret?) rail jam at Little John on the evening of March 27th. April 2nd is an end-of-season party at Meadows Nordic. April 15th at 10am is the “Run with the Wild 5k” fun run to support the Wildland Firefighter Foundation.

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 about Ferment Brewing. There’s a weekly group paddle to the Event Site on Sunday at 11 am followed by a free pint at the fire pit at Ferment. That’s the “Paddle n’ Pint”. Also: Wednesday Paddle Sprints at the Event Site at Noon.

Cycling

Many of the trails will be muddy with the exception of Syncline. Please avoid the muddy trails (Hospital Hill, Whoopdee, Post) – if you ride them, you’ll do major damage and ruin the next person’s ride.. You might be able to ride the Deschutes or Klickitat trails or Syncline, but you’ll be most successful on gravel. If it was below freezing the night before your ride, don’t ride trails that are exposed to the open air. Those trails will have freeze-thaw conditions, and you’ll do major damage. 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.