The Gorge Is My Gym

GORGE WIND FORECAST

If you’re still seeing yesterday’s and it’s after 9am, try opening this in an incognito window AND/OR FLUSHING YOUR CACHE or do a do a hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R / Cmd+Shift+R)

Keep in mind that this forecast attempts to predict what the iKite/iWind sensors will read. Think like a local! All sensors are not equal. Swell reads low. Viento/Arlington/The Wall read high compared to Swell. 30mph at Rufus (The Wall sensor) is about 23-24mph at Swell. 30mph at Swell is about 35-37mph at Rufus/Viento/Arlington. Hope that helps!

SHORT-TERM gorge wind forecast

Hi friends! Today and tomorrow are what you’ve been waiting for if you’ve been waiting for solid westerlies. A cold front swings through on Thursday. Offshore, strong high pressure builds behind it. Setup quality: good! Gorge wind forecast: good! Westerlies extend to Rufus Thursday afternoon. On Friday, early wind will extend into the desert, but the all-day focus will be in the Corridor (Viento to Hood River). Starting Saturday, we’ll have easterlies for a couple days, probably, but uncertainty is actually quite high starting Sunday.

Thursday’s opening shot was gradients of nearly-nothing: 29.88/29.87/29.88 and light/variable wind. As this system, a cold front, approaches the coast, a solid cross-Cascade thermal gradient develops and high pressure builds offshore. By late morning, we’ll have 17-20mph from Stevenson to Hood River. By early afternoon: 21-24mph from Stevenson to Doug’s.

The Hatch may drop off mid-afternoon, but other locations between Stevenson and Doug’s rise to 25-28mph (slight chance of a couple mph more). Rufus builds to 20-23mph. Strong westerlies in the Corridor continue into the evening and overnight. River flow over the last 24 hours was 61-98kcfs, river temp is 61.5F, and high temp forecast is 67F with increasing clouds.

RIVER FLOW FOR SITES BETWEEN AVERY (EAST OF THE DALLES) AND RUFUS: CLICK HERE FOR JOHN DAY DAM FLOW.

RIVER FLOW FOR SITES BETWEEN STEVENSON AND DOUG’S BEACH (WEST OF THE DALLES): CLICK HERE FOR THE DALLES DAM FLOW

LONGER-TERM gorge wind forecast

Friday kicks off with solid gradients, but it’s hard to say if the wind will be present at dawn – the colder the morning is, the less likely the westerlies are to show up right away. Morning temp: 39! Anyway, it’s likely we’ll have 22-25mph from Viento to Arlington early in the morning. Looking at the sounding model, I have a sneaking suspicion the wind will be even stronger. Areas east of Doug’s fade by late morning or early afternoon.

While models suggest a die-off, my best guess would be for the wind to hold and potentially build for a few hours late morning. 24-27mph from Stevenson to Mosier is not out of the question. After 2pm, the wind is likely to fade as high pressure builds inland, but we should still end the day with 17-20mph. High temp: just 61 degrees with a few high clouds.

On Saturday, high pressure takes over and turns the wind easterly. We’re likely to see 25mph at Stevenson, Iwash/Rooster, and Viento into early afternoon. By day’s end, the wind falls to 15-20mph at Iwash/Rooster and 15mph at Stevenson. Easterlies rise to 5-10mph near Hood River and 10mph east of The Dalles. High temp: 63 and partly cloudy.

Sunday’s forecast is quite uncertain – models are close to 50/50 on continued dry/high pressure weather or a weather system moving through with rain. Similar uncertainty continues into the extended forecast, so I”ll hold off on making any predictions beyond Saturday for now. But hey, that’s a forecast for three days of wind. Go get some! Hope to see you on the Nch’i Wana soon!

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BARE BONES HOOD RIVER WEATHER FORECAST

Mostly clear sky this morning. Mostly cloudy later. Temps start in the upper 30s and rise to the upper 60s. Light westerlies early. Strong westerlies later. No rainbows. Friday will be partly cloudy. Temps start in the upper 30s and rise to the low 60s. Moderately strong westerlies. No rainbows. Saturday starts Nothing (clear away from the river) and ends partly to mostly cloudy. Temps start in the low 30s (frost advisory) and end in the low 60s. Light easterlies. No rainbows.