events - The Gorge is my Gym

The Clymb: free membership. Cheap gear. Temira approves. Click to join.

First thing today, I’d like to say thank you to all of you who donated during August pledge drive month. There was never a day where I didn’t post a forecast, because every day someone donated. Thank you to all of you both for using this forecast and for supporting it! Remember that although it’s free for you to use, it’s not free for me. I put a lot of time into giving you an accurate forecast, and I pay for the hosting on this website. If you find it valuable, please take the time to make a donation to support what I do. Your generosity helps keep this going for everyone. I also send an email version of this forecast. Make a $12 or larger donation, and you’re on the email list for a year. No more dealing with the twice-yearly pledge drive, and you’ll also have a chance to win prizes from the sponsors. Thank you again for your support!

This week’s sponsor is Dirt Hugger, offering curbside food waste collection service for your business, school, office, store, restaurant or hospital in Hood River and The Dalles. All that food waste becomes awesome compost for your garden, yard, farm or vineyard. You can pick up that compost or have it delivered. If we as a society can’t make composting happen through our cities and counties, at least we can make it happen through a cool local business. This is one of my favorite businesses in the Gorge. Support them, please

As I write this report, it’s still pitch black outside, but it does appear that the marine clouds have pushed past Hood River, if not as a solid wall, at least as little-fluffy-clouds. You know what that means: the strongest morning wind just shifted from the Hatchery to Mosier, and the strongest wind for the day just shifted to Doug’s.

With the 4am gradient at .15 pdx-dls and another .06 out east, we’re going to have a very windy day today. Windy, but gusty. It’s fall. You get gusty wind in the fall. No complaining. It’s September, and it’s windy. Expect 28-33 at Mosier this morning. By noon, Doug’s should be 30-35. Unless these clouds burn back really soon, the Hatchery/Hood River will be at 18-23 this morning, picking up to gusty 23-27 later. As for the Wall, with the clouds this far east, we’ll likely see upper twenties there too.

As the upper low approaches the coast and moves east tomorrow, we’ll see a deeper marine layer and less wind and more gustiness. 21-24 east of the low clouds starts the day, picking up to 23-26 in the afternoon. Mark you calendar for 26-30+ near Hood River on Monday and 22-25 on Tuesday.

This weekend’s events include the Grominator skate contest (HR Skate Park) this morning, the Echelon Gran Fondo all over the Gorge today (poor road bikers riding in this much wind – so much for our “best fall fondo” rating from Bicycling Mag), the Gorge kids triathlon tomorrow morning (no, Clint B., you can’t enter – Waterfront Park), and the Super Commuter bike race (Tsuruta Park, 10am) tomorrow morning.

Also this weekend: the Dirty Fingers Customer Appreciation Party at Gov’t Mineral Springs. Free shuttles, free food, and free beer for customers. Donations are appreciated if you’re just a random mountain biker who wants to join the party.

And remember, next weekend is the White Salmon Homecoming Party. $21.40 whitewater rafting and a free salmon bake through Wet Planet, Drifters and All-Star. You must sign up in advance for both of these events.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

The Clymb: free membership. Cheap gear. Temira approves. Click to join.

No, I’m afraid I don’t know why it blew 29 at the Hatchery yesterday afternoon. I can tell you that the models have a very hard time handling fall weather. I don’t know why, but even NOAA has mentioned it in their forecast before. I can tell you for sure that it’s going to be very windy the next couple of days. I can also tell you that this is the last forecast you’ll get for this weekend, as I’ll be camping for the first time this summer and unable to access Al Gore’s Interwebs to email you the forecast. Have a great weekend!

In weekend weather news, this low pressure system moving across the PNW is going to wreak some havoc. Expect increasing humidity and wind today, with convective clouds forming. Best lightning chances are in the Oregon Cascades after 2pm today, through tomorrow morning. A slight chance of lightning continues in the Washington Cascades tomorrow. As for rain, there’s a slight chance Saturday morning and Sunday morning in the Cascades, but there’s really not much hope. Speaking of rain, our county forestry department wouldn’t mine if you watered their seedlings (they didn’t ask, but I know the baby trees are getting hammered with the dry weather). If you have extra water in your bottle when you’re riding Post, dump it on a baby tree.

The gradient at 6am was .11 (it was .15 yesterday evening), and with Portland buried in low clouds yet again, you can expect westerlies to pick up to 26-30 at the Hatch and 22-26 at Hood River this morning, with Doug’s and Rowena picking up to 27-31 this afternoon. Expect gusty conditions as an offshore low moves inland today.

Tomorrow is going to be one of the windiest days of the summer as an offshore high builds in behind a departing low pressure system. We’ll see westerlies build to 30-35 from Mosier east to Arlington. It’s probably going to be gusty, with the departing low, but it’ll still be fun. Something to note tomorrow is that there’s a pretty good chance the marine layer is going to push past Hood River. If it doesn’t, you get 30+ at the Hatch/Sandbar. If it does, you’re headed east.

West wind continues Sunday, at 23-26 east of Hood River. We’ll see a better setup on Monday, with 26-30 at Swell.

If the mountain bike trails feel empty starting today, it’s because the mountain bikers are headed to the Dirty Fingers campout near Falls Creek all weekend. They’ll be riding Falls Creek on Saturday, so it might not be the best day to go for a hike there. It’ll also be a terrible day to pedal up the trail.

In other bike news, tomorrow is the Echelon Gran Fondo, so watch out for lots of road cyclists cruising around between The Dalles, Hood River, Parkdale and Odell. Then on Sunday, look out for bikes in downtown Hood River, as Gorge Owned presents the Super Commuter Bike race, a scavenger hunt of epic proportions, where your bike skills will earn you prizes.

For kids this weekend, there’s the Grominator skateboarding contest at Hood River’s skate park on Saturday. Then on Sunday, it’s the Gorge Kids Triathlon at Hood River’s Waterfront Park.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira