weather - The Gorge is my Gym

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Random Morning Thoughts

It’s very warm and cozy in my office at Mt. Hood Meadows this morning. It’s so warm and cozy that it’s making me want to take a nap, even though it’s not yet 7am.

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
Saturday
Sunday
Monday

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

Today looks like a cloudy day on Mt. Hood with a chance of a few sprinkles in the afternoon, evening and overnight, with less than .1” of rain. Just sprinkles. Not rain, drizzle or downpour. Sprinkles. The free air freezing level (FAF) today will be 10,000′ early, rising to 12,000′ in the afternoon. Wind will be WNW 15 in the morning, steadily rising to W 30 in the afternoon.

Tomorrow starts out cloudy with a chance of sprinkles, becoming clear in the afternoon. The FAF will be 10,000′ all day. Expect wind at W 30-35 in the morning, becoming WNW 30-35 in the afternoon as the sky clears.

Expect clear sky on Monday with the FAF between 9000′ and 10,000′. Wind on Monday will be NW 25+.

Next chance for precipitation is on Wednesday evening, and that should come in as snow, perhaps even snow in the lowlands. The following round of precip is predicted for Friday, too far out to be predicting, but tentatively scheduled to come in as rain.

Plain Old Local Weather

Although it’s 36 degrees in Hood River this morning, the roads were sparkling with ice at 5:20am when I left my house. Expect temps today to rise to 40 degrees in the afternoon under cloudy sky. Maybe some sprinkles will fall overnight, and maybe not.

Sunday looks cloudy in the Gorge all day with temps rising into the upper 40’s. Monday looks clear with temps in the upper 30’s.

In the long-range forecast, we may see some snow in the Gorge on Wednesday night as a very cold system moves in. Even colder air is predicted to filter in to the Gorge on Thursday and Friday, and then a warm system is predicted to move over the top of this icy-cold air Friday night, for doom and destruction. Of course, this is way too far out to be predicting doom and destruction, but it’s still fun to speculate, as much as I’d hate to see doom and destruction.

Gorge Wind Forecast

The gradient this morning stands at E .01, not enough for any wind of note. We’ll see the easterlies pick up to 10-15 at the usual windy spots this morning before the wind flip-flops to W 13-15 this afternoon. Expect westerlies at 15-18 from Hood River eastward on Sunday and easterlies at 21-24 on Monday.

Road and Mountain Biking

Mmmph. I saw several road bike racer types on the Twin Tunnels yesterday around 3pm. I even saw one wearing shorts.

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

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

Mt. Hood Meadows has a free ski and snowboard demo day on Sunday.

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

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

Yesterday I mentioned something that frustrates me about forecasting: day-to-day inconsistency in precip amounts in the models. Blowing the forecast frustrates me more. I thought for sure we’d see all snow, all the time at 5000′ overnight. No such luck. It was a mix of snow and freezing rain up there, meaning the 3” of new snow is nothing more than base-building sludge. Ride the groom today for the best conditions.

It was cloudy early, but the sky has already cleared, and should remain that way today. Expect the free air freezing level (FAF) to be at 5500′ this morning, dropping to 3500′ late this afternoon. Wind will be NW 30 early, dropping to NW 20 mid-morning and switching to NNW 25-30 late this afternoon.

Saturday may start off clear, but quickly becomes high overcast. The FAF will be around 10,000′ all day. Wind will be W 20 in the morning, slowly picking up to W 30 in the afternoon and evening. We may see a few sprinkles overnight Saturday into Sunday.

Sunday starts off cloudy, with a few sprinkles possible. The sky will clear mid-morning or early afternoon. The FAF will be 10,000′ all day with wind out of the west at 30-35.

Next chance for precip is Wednesday into Thursday, and it looks like it will fall as snow.

Plain Old Local Weather

I was pretty mad last night when it started snowing in Bingen at 4pm. I predicted freezing rain, and I wanted freezing rain. And then I got freezing rain, and I was bummed, because scary things happen on the road during freezing rain.

We seem to be done with that, and can expect low clouds and above-freezing temps in the Gorge the next few days. Upper 30’s today and tomorrow, upper 40’s on Sunday, and colder on Monday.

If you liked this last Arctic blast, keep an eye on the end of next week, as models are predicting a repeat. Long way out to be trusting models, but it’s worth watching.

Gorge Wind Forecast

Those Liquid Force folks were out testing kites again yesterday in sub-freezing weather. If you need a kite that performs well when coated with ice, buy a Liquid Force? We’ll see light wind this morning, picking up to W 10-15 this afternoon. Saturday starts with east wind at 10-15, switching to west wind at 5-10 in the evening. Sunday looks light.

Road and Mountain Biking

I took my Canfield Brothers Yelli Screamy (the best 29’er hardtail EVER) out yesterday for a road ride. I couldn’t find my clipless pedals, so I rode with (the best pedals EVER) my Canfield Crampon flat pedals for an hour. End of shameless promotion of my favorite bike EVER.

I guess my point is that you don’t need a cross bike to go riding right now. The roads are full of gravel, but a hardtail 29’er will save you. As for other places to ride, well, with temps going above freezing, trails are going to be very muddy. Give them a few days, and maybe try riding Post, which should stay frozen under the trees for a bit.

And remember, there is no gravel on the Petersburg Loop in The Dalles.

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

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

Mt. Hood Meadows has a free ski and snowboard demo day on Sunday.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira