hood - The Gorge is my Gym

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Random Morning Thoughts

Today is the winter solstice. Happy first day of winter. I’m hoping winter will start on the mountain soon. Although I’m having a lovely time ripping carving turns on my BC tele gear, I would like to break out my new skis and slash some pow. Just sayin’…

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
Saturday
Sunday
Monday

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

Although temps have dropped below freezing this morning on Mt. Hood, the precipitation type has stayed clear. The theoretical snow level today (the freezing rain level?) will be 5500′ early, 3500′ mid-morning, and then will rise to 7500′ this afternoon and evening, with temps just above freezing at 5000-7500′. We’ll see .1-.2” water value (WV) between 4am and 4pm. Maybe we’ll get lucky and see a switch to snowflakes mid-morning. The precip will taper off in the afternoon and pick up again overnight, for another .2” WV rain overnight. Wind today will be NW 35 early, NW 25 midday and evening, and NW 40 overnight.

Sunday starts off with drizzle. The freezing level will be 7500′ early, 9000′ midday and 10,000′ in the evening. We’ll see less than .2” WV between 4am and 4pm with partial clearing in the afternoon. Then another round of light showers come overnight for another less than .2” WV from 4pm Sunday through Monday morning. All of that will fall as rain/drizzle/mist. Wind Sunday will be NW 35 early, NW 30 midday and WNW 20 in the evening.

Monday starts cloudy with drizzle/mist, becoming clear in the afternoon. The snow level will be 10,000′ early and 7500′ in the afternoon. We’ll see .1-.3” WV of rain during the day. Wind will be W 30 early, rising to W 45 mid-morning.

Argh.

Plain Old Local Weather

49 degrees is a good start to a winter play day at river level. It’s going to be a little cooler midday, but still pleasant enough to get outside. Maybe a few sprinkles. Definitely some west wind. Tomorrow will be near 50 degrees all day with west wind and a few sprinkles possible. Monday looks similar.

Gorge Wind Forecast

Looks like a windy weekend in the Gorge. Gradients this morning are .14/.10, and that’ll be enough for a decent day on the river. Expect the wind to be in the 20-24 range near Hood River today with 26-30 east of Hood River.

Tomorrow brings 15-18 near Hood River with 21-24 further east. On Monday, expect 21-24 in the morning with 26-30 in the afternoon as a (not-very) cold front swings across the Cascades.

Road and Mountain Biking

Muddy, muddy, muddy. Time to put cross tires on all the road bikes and ride the gravel roads.

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

Events – email me if I’ve missed any outdoor-related events

Today is the KringleKrawl Santa bike ride at Dirty Fingers at 3pm. Tonight at the EasyCLIMB in Cascade Locks, starting at 5pm, it’s the night-light winter solstice bike ride with the DimWits. They usually have a bonfire and hot dogs, but I’m sure they wouldn’t object to you bringing a potluck dish or cookies.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

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Random Morning Thoughts

I used to enjoy writing forecasts for chaotic weather days. But we’ve had so many this year already and so little snow on the mountain that I’m getting depressed writing these chaotic forecasts now. Somebody do something about this weather, please!

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

I’ve been watching the temps on Mt. Hood jump all over the place for the last two hours. In the last hour, the temp at 5000′ went from 20° to 30°. This is not a good sign for the precip type with the first round of precip. I’m calling it freezing rain and sleet, not snow (that should ensure it snows). So, expect .2-.3” water value (WV) mixed wet precip between 7am and 1pm, followed by another 1-1.5” r**n between 1pm today and 1am Saturday, after which we may just see a switch to snow, with .1-.3” WV giving us 1-3” of new Saturday morning.

The snow level will be 8000′ by 10am today, 10,000′ around 4pm, 7000′ at 10pm, falling to 4500′ by 4am Saturday. Wind today was SE 5-15 early, but just switched as I was writing this. Expect rapidly increasing NW wind today, hitting 45-50 by 7am, 55 by 10am, and NW 60+ by 1pm. The wind will slowly fade to NW 50 overnight.

Saturday morning starts with (hopefully) a little bit of new snow on the ground, with mostly cloudy sky and orographic snow flurries. The snow level will be 4500′ early, 3000′ midday, and then we’ll see warmer air move in, giving us temps around 2°C between 3000′ and 7000′, meaning we could see sprinkles or flurries. Probably wet flurries. Total precip on Saturday will be .1-.2” WV between 4am and 4pm, for less than 1” of snow. Wind Saturday will be NW 50 early, NNW 35+ midday and NNW 30 in the evening.

Sunday looks partly to mostly cloudy with a few sprinkles or flurries in the morning and sprinkles in the afternoon, with less than .2” WV during the day. The snow level will be 7500’ish for much of the day, rising to 10,000′ in the evening. Wind will be NW 30 all day, dropping to WNW 20 in the evening.

Plain Old Local Weather

Looks like the west wind won out over the sub-freezing temps, meaning we’ll be spared the trouble of an ice storm today. Maybe a few wet snowflakes or some sleet will mix with the incoming rain, but that’s all we’ll see. So, expect a wet day in the Gorge today: sprinkles this morning and heavier rain after 1pm with strong west wind. Tomorrow brings low clouds and temps in the 40’s. Sunday looks cloudy with temps in the 40’s and a chance of sprinkles.

Gorge Wind Forecast

As of 5am, there was already .07 PDX-DLS and .03 DLS-PSC, with the wind in the low 20’s near Hood River. Expect the wind to ramp up to gusty 30-40 through the whole Gorge today by midday, nuking through sunset. Saturday starts with W 21-24 east of Hood River, fading to 15-18 in the afternoon, with less wind near Hood River. Looks like we’ll start with W 15-18 on Sunday, picking up to 23-26 east of Hood River in the afternoon.

Road and Mountain Biking

Gorge 400?

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

Events – email me if I’ve missed any outdoor-related events

There’s not much going on tonight, other than a party I’m going to in The Dalles, but coming up Saturday, Dirty Fingers has the KringleKrawl, a SantaCon bike ride to the pubs of Hood River. Sounds dangerous. In Cascade Locks on Saturday night, the DimWits have a winter solstice ride from 5-9pm at the EasyCLIMB. This only sounds dangerous because it will be dark. But that’s why they make lights.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira