powder - The Gorge is my Gym

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Random Morning Thoughts

My therapist moved to Vancouver, and yesterday I drove there to have my weekly chat with her. I know… TMI. Anyway, driving 70 minutes each way to talk to someone for 50 minutes sucks, so I tacked on some extra activities.

First, I went for a beautiful 40 mile ride, and found one of the coolest roads on the planet. Allen Canyon, somewhere north of Ridgefield, is a steep, narrow, fern-covered, waterfall-filled, stream-bordered beauty of a mile of pavement. Did I mention it’s steep? Like 18 percent or more. Whoa. For my second activity, I had dinner with my high school bestie’s mom and her husband. They live less than 3 minutes from my therapist’s new office. Do you believe in coincidence? I don’t…

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Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

No, no snow for you. Just sunshine. Ok, maybe some snow Thursday night. Maybe. But for today, we’ll see a sunny day on Mt. Hood with the free air freezing level (FAF) at 10,000′ all day and SW wind at 15mph.

Thursday starts off clear, becoming cloudy mid-afternoon with precipitation starting around 11pm. The snow level will be 8000′ early, falling to 6500′ by 2pm and hanging between 6000′ and 6500′ overnight. We’ll see .3” water value (WV) between 11pm Thursday and 5am Friday, likely falling as rain, with an inch or two of snow possible above 6500′. Wind Thursday will be WNW 15-20 early, becoming WSW 15-20 midday and switching to WNW 20 overnight.

Friday morning starts off with heavy rain mixed with snow. The snow level will be 6000′ at 5am, 5500′ for much of the day, and will then fall to 3000′ at 5pm and 2000′ overnight. We’ll see .7” WV between 5am and 11am, mostly, most likely, falling as rain, with an inch or two of wet snow possible at 5000′ at the tail end of this system. Wind on Friday will be W 30 early, W 45-50 midday, WNW 45 in the evening, and NW 30 overnight.

Saturday looks clear and warm with the FAF around 8000. Wind will be NW 20-30 to start, fading to W 15 in the afternoon.

Gorge Wind

East wind is buffeting the trees at Rooster this morning. We’ll see easterlies at 28-32 there and 21-24 at Steven’s Locks today. Tomorrow starts with light wind. By afternoon, we’ll see gusty 21-24 from Stevenson to The Dalles, probably strongest at Stevenson, with 15-18 east of The Dalles. Friday sees a system move through, giving us gusty westerlies at 13-16 in the western Gorge and 28-32 east of The Dalles after noon.

Gorge Weather

Beautiful. Gorgeous. Stellar. Amazing. Awesome. Spectacular. It might be below freezing as I write this, but it’s going to be a touch over 60 degrees and sunny today with a light east breeze in the central Gorge. Tomorrow starts off near 40 degrees, rising to the upper 50’s with light wind early, picking up to moderate west wind in the afternoon. Clouds drift in tomorrow afternoon on that west breeze. Rain falls Thursday night, giving us a rainbow-filled, beautiful-sunrise start to the day on Friday. Expect temps in the upper 40’s Friday morning, rising to the low 50’s, with decreasing showers and moderate to strong west wind.

Road and Mountain Biking

I’m just going to say it: Today is going to be one of the best road riding days you could possibly imagine. I’m sure the dirt is good too, although Syncline may have frozen overnight, so leave it until late afternoon. But the road riding today. Oh god. Completely orgasmic. Warm. Dry. Sunny. Light wind. I’m thinking shorts and just one jersey (I rode in Vancouver yesterday with knickers, two jerseys, and arm warmers). And… it’s going to be so warm that you’ll have a chance to hang out outside and wash the winter grit off your bike. You love your bike. Make it pretty.

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

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

There is oh-so-much going on this evening. The Hood River Area Trail Stewards are showing mountain bike movies at Andrew’s at 6:30 (and at a later screening). The LunaFest shows at Columbia Center for the Arts tonight. And Portland Mountain Rescue presents the Telluride Mountain Film Festival at the Hollywood Theatre tonight.

Also this evening, there’s an avalanche awareness class at Dog River (America’s best coffeshop, acccording to USA Today) at 7pm.

Lunafest continues tomorrow night, and if that’s not enough movies, you can catch The Festival of the Fly [fishing] at Andrew’s.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

Please support this forecast by clicking on the photo of the forecaster!

Your forecaster. Click on her to donate. Thank you!

Random Morning Thoughts

Wow. So sad to see that a massive avalanche took out Chair 6 at Crystal yesterday afternoon. I have so many memories of riding that chair as a kid. I remember feeling so competent and talented and bold and courageous and just plain awesome and rad skiing past all the “experts only” signs and loading that chair as a teenager. I’ll miss it. Sure, they’re planning on building a newer, faster, more reliable chair this summer, and I’ll make new memories there too, but I’ll always cherish the memories I made riding that creaky old double.

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Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

How does sunshine on the mountain sound to you? Pretty good? You’ll like this forecast. Today will be clear. The freezing level (FL) will be 2000′ early, rising to at least 6000′ in the afternoon and around 9000′ overnight. Wind will be N 10-20 early, switching to E 15 in the afternoon and light S overnight.

Wednesday looks clear. The FL will be 1000′ early, rising to 8000′ in the afternoon. Wind will be SW 10 early and SW 25-30 in the afternoon. Thursday also looks clear. The FL will be 8000′ early and 6000′ in the afternoon with WNW wind at 20 in the morning and W wind at 30 in the afternoon.

Friday sees a wet system move in. At this point, temps look borderline, with the snow level at 5500′ early and 6500′ in the afternoon with about 1” of water value and west wind at 30mph.

Gorge Wind

Yesterday looked to be a lovely day on the river in the eastern Gorge, with a 30mph average at Maryhill when I looked at iWindsurf. Today starts with west wind at 10-15mph, switching to E 15-18 this afternoon. Tomorrow brings east wind at 26-30. Thursday brings light west wind.

Gorge Weather

Oh my oh my. It looks so lovely the next few days. But before we look into the future, let’s look back: How many rainbows did you see yesterday? I saw at least half a dozen, even some to the east, an unusual place to see rainbows in the Gorge. Today will be sunny, with temps in the low 40’s early and mid 50’s in the afternoon with light wind. Wednesday starts with temps in the upper 30’s, warming to the low 60’s in the afternoon under blue sky with light wind. On Thursday, expect temps in the low 40’s early with a high near 60 degrees and light wind.

Road and Mountain Biking

Dust off that bike if you haven’t already, because the road biking and mountain biking are both going to be off the charts the next few days.

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

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

Tonight is the last game of Kayak Polo for the season. Hood River Pool. 8pm. Tonight is also $12 Prime Rib night at Cebu, 5-9pm. Also tonight, there’s pickup rugby at Collins Field at 5:30pm.

Coming up tomorrow, the Hood River Area Trail Stewards have a movie night at Andrew’s at 6:30pm. There will be great raffle prizes, so show up and support your local trail maintenance and advocacy organization. Also tomorrow night, Columbia Center for the Arts hosts the LunaFest, films about, by and for women. And Portland Mountain Rescue hosts the Telluride Mountain Film Festival in Portland as a fundraising event.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira