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Saturday: glorious sunshine for Mt. Hood. westerlies for the Gorge.

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

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
Snow level 4a-8a 8a-12p 12p-4p 4p-8p 8p-4a
Saturday
6500′->5000′
Sunday
5500′->1000′
Monday
1000′->0′

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

Hi skiers, snowboarders, and Nordic folks! We’re set up for a dazzling sunny Saturday on the slopes followed by dumping snow Sunday night into Tuesday morning. Models are calling for quite a bit of precip Tuesday afternoon into Friday, but they’re all over the place on temps. We’ll have to keep watching that before we make a call. Either way, the mountains are going to pick up a lot of snow next week! Yay!

Friday night into Saturday morning will be clear. The free air freezing level will be 6500′, but that won’t stop the snow from snapping. Thank you, radiational cooling. Wind: WNW 15-20 overnight. Saturday morning kicks off with a mixed snow surface of frozen granular and hardpack. Nordic conditions: fast, violet wax. The snow should soften to corn on sun-kissed slopes. The free air freezing level will be 6500′ all day, and will fall to 5000′ or so overnight. Wind: W 20 during the day, NW 20-30 in the afternoon, and W 25 after midnight.

Sunday will have very light snowfall during the day. Overnight, the heavens open up and are aided by orographic assistance. Yeah, NW flow! The snow level will be 5000′ in the morning, 4500′ in the afternoon, and 1000′-1500′ after midnight. Just at race is forecast during the day. Models call for 1.2” water equivalent (WE) overnight for 12-16” increasingly dry powder. We could exceed that thanks to orographics; wind will be W 25 in the morning, W 40 in the afternoon, and W 50 overnight.

Monday looks like a storm skiing day. The snow level will e around 1000′ all day and will fall to 0′ overnight. About 0.7” WE is in the cards for the day shift. That’s 8-11” champagne powder. Another 0.4” WE of similarly fantastic snow arrives overnight for 5-6” additional fluff. Wind: W 50 early (could affect lifts), W 40 midday, WNW 30-40 in the afternoon, and NW 20-30 overnight. A brief break Tuesday morning gives way to more snow Tuesday night. After that, there’s some disagreement on temps. They don’t look super warm, but they could be on the edge for snow. We’ll check in again tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy the glorious sunny Saturday on the slopes!  

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Gorge Wind Forecast

Hi friends! Models continue to bounce around on the wind strength forecast, but they’re sticking with westerlies for at least the next three days and probably longer. The steadiest wind will probably be Saturday, and the strongest wind will probably be Monday. Let’s look at the details. We’ll be in between systems on Saturday with offshore high pressure. Add in an onshore temp gradient and actual warmth on the southeastern desert. The day starts with 13-16 from Stevenson to Swell with 5-8 to the east. The wind quickly builds to 21-24 from Stevenson to Hood River with 11-14 from Mosier to Arlington. Afternoon wind may drop to 17-21 but extend all the way from Stevenson to Arlington. River flow Friday was 63-141kcfs, river temp is 41.90F, and high temp forecast is 54F.

A cold front approaches from the NW on Sunday and agitates things. Thank offshore high pressure for continued westerlies. Early wind will be 11-14 from Stevenson to Swell, 7-10 from Hood River to Doug’s, and 18-22 from Avery to Arlington. Models like the idea of gusty 23-26 out east in the afternoon with gusty 19-22 and drizzle int eh western Gorge. High temp: 51F. Note: there’s quite a bit of range in the ensembles, so these numbers may change. All-in-all, ensembles are calling for a windier (but colder – 41F high) day on Monday. As of this model run, we’re looking at afternoon westerlies around 30mph from The Dalles to Boardman with 17-20 in the western Gorge. This optimistic forecast relies on an upper low crossing the Cascades midday and setting up residence in the desert. Cross your fingers for that. Areas west of Biggs are likely to have intermittent rain all day. Well, that all sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Hope to see you on the water!  

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

 

Very basic Hood River weather forecast. Don’t plan your life around this. You really should read TATAS

A little bit of high clouds stick around on Saturday with plenty of sun. Temps start in the mid 30’s and rise to the mid 50’s. Moderately strong westerlies. No rainbows. Sunday starts mostly cloudy and adds rain mid afternoon. Temps start near 40 and rise to 50 or so. Moderately strong westerlies. 59% chance of rainbows. Monday starts with snain and turns drizzly. Temps will be in the mid 30’s early and low 40’s later. Moderate westerlies. 99% chance of rainbows. Read Temira’s Awesome Travel Advisory Service on Facebook for a detailed forecast that may help you plan your day.  

Local-ish Events

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

There’s a watch party for the Red Bull Hardline downhill mountain bike race on 2/24 at Mountain View Cycles from 3pm to 5:30pm (free). On Thursday, March 21st, you can watch the BEST MOVIE EVER, The Neverending Story, at the Trout Lake Hall at 5pm (free).

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.  

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Have an awesome day!

By Temira

Temira Lital is a recreation and travel weather forecaster based in Hood River, Oregon. Temira uses they/them pronouns. They're also a mental health counselor. Temira bikes, skis, windsurfs, paddles a SUP, swims in mountain lakes, and loves gardening. Most recently they've taken up SUP foiling. Temira is powered by La Croix, protein, and beets.