Your forecaster.
Random Morning Thoughts
Gratitude Month, day 25: I am grateful today to all the people who’ve welcomed me into their homes as their housekeeper over the years. Sure, I know that sounds silly – why would I be grateful to people who have me scrub their toilets? Because that relationship involves trust, a lot of trust, and I appreciate the faith those folks have in me. And I appreciate the extra work, which pays for my bicycles, which give me more joy than should be allowed for one human being. Want to share in the joy and go ride bikes? =)
Awesome Temira-approved Local Business – Cebu Lounge and Riverside Grill
Hey Portland. Hey Hood River. Skip the cooking this Thanksgiving: ride or sail or ski all day and then head on down to Riverside for Thanksgiving dinner. They’ll take care of your dinner and clean up, with served plated dinners. Traditional turkey and trimmings, or vegetarian, prime rib, and salmon options. Serving 12-9pm. Reservations recommended. 541-386-4410. And as always, the best happy hour in the Gorge 4-6pm and $12 Prime Rib Tuesdays, Temira’s favorite. The folks on the mailing list are in a raffle for free Prime Rib for two. Don’t you wish you were on the mailing list?
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Mt. Hood Snow Sunshine Forecast
Ok, this is fascinating. Yesterday’s model consensus was for dry weather through Thanksgivukkah weekend. Now the consensus is for a very stormy Thanksgivukkah weekend, starting on Saturday afternoon. I can’t tell you at this time if we’ll see snow or rain, because it’s too far out to nail down the storm path, but I can tell you that we’ll see a very, very stormy Sunday on Mt. Hood if nothing changes. Yay! I love interesting weather. This is going to be a fun week of forecasting!
But back to the present, today will be sunny on Mt. Hood or maybe we’ll see a few high clouds. The free air freezing level (FAF) will be 12,000 all day and the wind will be out of the SW at 15mph. High temps today will be in the mid-40’s at 5000′. Tomorrow brings more high clouds. The FAF will be 12,000′ early and 9000′ in the afternoon with SW wind at 15-20. High temps will be in the low 40’s at 5000′. Wednesday brings high clouds. The FAF will be 7500′ and the wind will be SW 15. The weather looks dry through Friday.
I’m very excited to see how next weekend’s system shakes out. This could be very exciting!
Plain Old Local Weather
Clear and cold and stagnant air and massive inversions continue in the Gorge for the next several days. The temp in HR this morning was 23, and the temp at 7300′ was 41. Expect this to continue through Thanksgivukkah.
Yesterday brought a high of 52 degrees at Meadows. It was truly lovely, especially because I was up there above the foul air in the valley. I’ve never seen it so clear.
I’m a little concerned about the long-range forecast for next Saturday night, which predicts a very wet system coming in over the top of cold air trapped in the Gorge and east wind. This is a very, very long way out to be making a call, but it may be worth putting your snow tires on. Or wait a couple days and see how this setup shakes out, because a lot could change. And… even if we do get frozen precip, it will disappear quickly on Sunday as very strong west wind returns to the Gorge. Or this could all change by the weekend.
Gorge Wind Forecast
It’s still nuking at Rooster Rock, with a .18 gradient driving the easterlies. Expect 40-50 at Rooster today, fading in the afternoon. Expect 28-32 at Steven’s Locks. Tuesday brings easterlies at 26-30+, and Wednesday brings the same.
Road and Mountain Biking
Apparently the trail compassion requests released by both Dirty Fingers and myself were ignored over the weekend. Whoopdee is now CLOSED by order of the trail steward. Sorry guys, but it’s way too muddy to ride without damaging the trail. It will reopen after this freeze-thaw cycle is done. HRATS and Dirty Fingers will let you know. Please stay off Syncline as well, as it’s taking a beating. I’m going to assume the same goes for Eagles Cave in The Dalles and Crawford Oaks.
If you’d like to ride, here are some better options: EasyCLIMB in Cascade Locks. Gorge 400 and 408 out of Wyeth. Gorge 400 out of Cascade Locks. Post Canyon, but please park at Family Man and ride up from there, as Seven Streams is taking a freeze-thaw beating in the new clearcuts. Knebal and 8-Mile, according to an email I received yesterday, are 95% snow free with just a few trees down, and what snow is there is 1” or so deep. So go ride there. It’s frozen. There are also, according to Kay, some trails in good shape up near Mt. Adams. I bet anything that Dog River is perfect, so go ride up that.
The Clymb: free membership. Cheap gear. Temira approves. Click to join.
Events – email me if I’ve missed any outdoor-related events
There’s Ultimate Frisbee tonight at 8pm at the Hood River Armory. Thursday is Thanksgivukkah. Meadows will be open Friday-Sunday next weekend.
Kanaha Beach Park Petition Information
I’m passing on the link to the Kanaha Beach Park petition. My (admittedly incomplete) understanding of the issue is that there’s been a conflict between swimmers and kiters, resulting in a lawsuit to close major portions of the waterfront to vessels (including kiteboards and windsurfers). This lawsuit asks the state to enforce laws already on the books but not currently being enforced. Make a difference: sign the petition. Keep Kanaha accessible to all users.
Have an awesome day today!
Temira