mt. Hood - The Gorge is my Gym

The Clymb: free membership.
Access to super cheap gear including Trew, Zeal, Sierra Designs, and many more.

—

Good morning!

If you would like to hit the Columbia for some windsurfing or kiting this morning, you have your chance. The gradient is at east .23, enough for 30+ at Stevenson and 40+ for Rooster. Easterlies slowly fade through tomorrow, switching to west winds on Sunday morning. It’s a balmy 40 degrees in Stevenson this morning, so you should be plenty warm. Enjoy.

Because of the east winds, it’s going to stay near freezing in the Gorge for the next 48 hours. Expect a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain, At the most, we’ll see 2-3” of snow in the Gorge. At the worst, we’ll see a nice coating of ice. Yes, I know it’s 35 degrees this morning, but there’s a good chance evaporative cooling will drop the temp a couple of degrees, so I still think snow is likely.

This morning looks dry on the mountain until about 10am when light precipitation should move in. Light precip will continue to fall until tomorrow morning around 10am. I think we’ll see snow at first, but the inverted temperatures this morning are a big concern for freezing rain, sleet, and/or rain. Rain showers, at least at HRM base, and possibly to the top of Mt. Hood Express, are likely. Total water value between now and Saturday morning will be .25-.4”, for a total of 2-4” of snow at higher elevations. Light SSW wind this morning builds to SSW 20-30 by 1pm.

Tomorrow starts of with the snow level around 6000’, rising to 7000’ during the day and then falling during the evening. Light precip before 9am gives way to a dry, cloudy day. Precip returns around 7pm, mostly likely in the form of snow, with the snow level around 5000’. Winds on the slopes tomorrow will be 15-25mph early, building to 30-40mph by midday.

The snow level on Sunday starts off around 5000 feet, falling to 3000 feet during the day. We’ll see 2-3” of snow Saturday night into Sunday morning, and then 4-6” between 7am and 4pm. Winds start off at SSW 25-30mph Sunday morning, fading to WSW 15-25mph and then building to WSW 25-30 Sunday evening.

Snow falls pretty much all night Sunday and all day Monday, with snow levels at 3000 feet or so, for a nice powder day on Monday. Winds will be W 15-25mph.

The jet stream takes aim at the PNW through the middle of next week, for more snow every day.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

p.s. If you find this report useful, entertaining, or just want to recognize all the hard work that goes into it, please take the time to make a donation by clicking on the button at the bottom of the page. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til November 2011, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.

The Clymb: free membership.
Access to super cheap gear including Trew, Zeal, Sierra Designs, and many more.

—

Good morning! You have two days left to finish your Christmas shopping. Haven’t bought me anything yet? That’s okay. I bought myself new skis, new bindings and a new beacon, so I don’t really need anything. It’s very nice of you to think of me, however. =)

If you’d like to go windsurfing or kiting this morning, feel free. The gradient is east .14 and it’s blowing in the mid thirties at Rooster and will be blowing in the upper twenties at Stevenson. The east gradient will pick up tomorrow and back off a bit on Sunday, but still be enough for getting on the water on Christmas Day.

If you’re a surfer, it’s looking like there may be a short window on the coast of east to southeast wind Friday into Saturday with a 15 foot swell.

If you’d prefer a more seasonal sport – like riding the snow instead of looking at it while freezing on the river or ocean – Mt. Hood can help you out. Unfortunately, the north-to-south oriented jet stream is sending the goods to California instead of to Oregon, but that will change next week. Mammoth only had 4-6” of snow today, so I feel a little better, but they got 11 to 17 feet out of this storm cycle. Can you imagine if that snow had fallen on our mountain? Wow…

Today on Mt. Hood we’ll have a few snow flurries this morning with partly cloudy to cloudy skies before 2pm. After that, the snow stops completely for a mellow night on the hill. Winds today will be at 15-20 out of the south with the snow level around 4500 feet.

Friday during the day looks dry on Mt. Hood, thankfully, as temperatures at 5000’ will be between 33 and 36 degrees. Winds during the day will be out of the south at 20-25. We’ll see precipitation on Mt. Hood between 4pm Friday and 4am Saturday. At this point, it looks like snow levels will be at 5500-6000 feet, for a mixed precipitation event of some sort. Total water value with this weak system looks to be around .25”.

The precipitation should stop by 4am Saturday, and won’t start up again until 10pm or so. Temperatures will be above freezing at 5000’ on Saturday, with highs around 33-35 degrees and cloudy skies. Winds Saturday will be SW at 15-20, increasing to SE 20-25 after 4pm.

Temperatures drop overnight Saturday, and snow begins falling around midnight. A few inches fall during the day Sunday, then precipitation picks up around 4pm, for a total of 8-10” between 4am Saturday and 4am Sunday. Water value equivalent will be .75-1”. Winds start out at WSW 10-15, Sunday morning, rapidly building after 4pm to WSW 30-40+.

Looking ahead to next week, the jet stream takes aim at the Oregon-Washington border (finally), sending storm system after storm system through the PNW. Expect very strong winds on Mt. Hood as upper level lows pass directly north of the mountain on Monday night and then again during the day on Wednesday. Okay, that’s a long ways out, but that’s what the models are showing at this time. Next week will be a “ski Mt. Hood Meadow, it’ll blow you away” kind of week. Yippee!!!

Have an awesome day today!

Temira