Your forecaster. Click on her to donate. Thank you!
Random Morning Thoughts
I was in Portland last night for the Moth Story Slam. It was 56 degrees there. It was 36 degrees here in Hood River. I’m jealous of Portland now. Damn you, big city. Share that warmth with us. We’re having a hard weather week out here.
Cool Local Business – Please Support It
ReRack, a 6-year-old Portland business, is your place to buy, sell, and trade your Yakima and Thule rack parts. Brilliant idea, right? They provide free advice and free basic installation too. Head to ReRack, 2240 NE Sandy Blvd, to buy your first rack, sell your old rack or better yet make your old rack work on your new vehicle! Check out www.rerackpdx.com or Call (503) 875-6055 for more information. Go check it out. What a brilliant idea!
 |
4a-8a | 8a-12p | 12p-4p | 4p-8p | 8p-4a |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday |  |
|
|
|
 |
| Wednesday |  |
|
|
|
 |
| Thursday | |
|
|
 |
|
Mt. Hood Snow Forecast
It’s nice that the mixed precip we’ve been having on the hill has still been making the snowpack rise. I like accumulating snow. Not as much as I’d like a sunny, 60 degree day in the valley right now, but accumulating snow is good. Speaking of accumulating snow, snow water equivalent in the Hood basin is now at 75% of median. YTD precipitation is at 91% of average. No, I do not know why one is expressed in terms of “vs. the median” and the other is expressed as “% of average”. That’s just the way it is.
Anyway, today just looks cloudy on Mt. Hood, with a few flurries possible, but no real precip until 1am, when some sprinkles may start. The snow level today will be 5000′ early, rising to 6000′ by 1pm and 7000′ by 1am. Wind today will be W 30 early, WSW 30 midday and SW 30 overnight.
Wednesday starts off rainy, sees a bit of a break in between rainy systems early afternoon, and gets very rainy again overnight. The snow level will be 7500′ early, rising to 8500′ mid-afternoon and falling slowly to 6000′ by Thursday morning. We’ll see approximately 3” of rain between 4am Wednesday and 4am Thursday. Nice. Very nice. Wind will be SW 50 early, becoming W 45-50 in the morning as an upper low moves across south Washington. As the ULL exits, we’ll see the wind switch to WSW 40ish and then go to SW 50-60 in the evening ahead of the next system.
Thursday’s system looks burly, and thankfully, colder. The snow level will be 6000′ early, dropping to 5000′ mid-morning, possibly fluctuating a bit between 5000′ and 6000′ in the afternoon before dropping to 3500′ around 10pm. We’ll see 1.5-2” water value (WV) between 4am and 4pm, for 3-5” of new snow down low and more up high. Then we’ll see another 1.5-2” WV between 4pm Thursday and 4am Friday for 10-16” of new snow, should nothing change in the forecast. Wind Thursday will be SW 50-60 for much of the day, becoming W 50 in the afternoon and slowly dropping to WNW 35 overnight.
Friday looks sunny with fading west wind. Saturday starts off sunny, but then a very warm and wet system moves in Saturday night. And then we switch the clocks. Hooray! It’s bike-after-work season!
Gorge Wind
There’s not much in the way of gradient this morning: .01W. We’ll see not-much wind today, picking up a bit out of the west tonight as a system moves in. Expect westerlies at 13-15 tomorrow. Expect light wind to start on Thursday, picking up to gusty, rainy W 30-40 late in the day, probably after dark.
Gorge Weather
The Gorge is having trouble generating wind right now. Or maybe the Cascades are having trouble creating gradient. Either way, it’s still quite chilly here in the Gorge while Portland is nice and warm. Without wind, we’ll likely stay cooler than the NWS forecast of 53F today. Expect hovering low clouds today and temps in the low 40’s this afternoon. I much prefer NWS’ forecast and hope they are correct. Tomorrow looks warm and wet: LOTS of rain and temps in the low 50’s. Thursday looks rainy, raiy, and even rainier overnight into Friday with temps in the upper 40’s.
Road and Mountain Biking
Today, despite the chilly, damp weather, will be a nice day for a road ride because it won’t be windy. That is all I have to say on the matter, except to thank Erin for the Barmitts for my road bike. Now I won’t care if it’s cold or rainy, because my hands won’t turn white and go numb.
The Clymb: free membership. Cheap gear. Temira approves. Click to join.
Events – email me if I’ve missed any outdoor-related events
Tonight is Tuesday. It’s Mardi Gras. There’s a party at Dirty Fingers tonight raising money for Big Brothers Big Sisters. There’s also $12 prime rib at Cebu and Kayak Polo at the pool and pickup rugby at Collins Field.
Coming up March 8th, it’s Bowl For Kids’ Sake, the annual fundraiser for Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Now look, folks. This program saves lives. Kids who have a “big” have lower dropout rates, better mental health, better grades and more success in life. Trust me on this one, and please make a donation. Any amount helps. And if you want to be involved, there are about 20 boys looking for a Big. Just 2 hours a week can change a kid’s life. Call 541-436-0306 for more information.
Also March 8th, it’s the Feast of Words fundraiser at the Hood River Library from 6-9pm. So you can do Bowl for Kids’ Sake and then go to the fundraiser. Books saved my life when I was a kid, so I therefore deem this a worthy cause, despite its lack of connection with the outdoors (although I do love reading books in my hammock, outside).
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
