Thursday: POWDER TO THE PEOPLE! - The Gorge is my Gym

The best snow forecast for Mt. Hood. The best wind forecast for the Gorge.

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The Forecast

	4a-8a	8a-12p	12p-4p	4p-8p	8p-4a
Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
Thursday 2500′->1000′
Friday 1000′->0′
Saturday 0′->1500′->0′

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

Snow has started falling on Mt. Hood, and it pretty much won’t stop until sometime Sunday morning. The nature of this system – cold, northwesterly – gives it the potential to drop quite a bit of snow on orographically-favored slopes (Mt. Hood, for example). This forecast;s snowfall predictions have been adjusted upwards accordingly. If you’re looking for a sunny day, you’ll probably have to wait until Sunday or Monday. If you’re looking for powder riding, you’ve got 72 hours of that! Planning for the weekend? Expect a very, very busy weekend on Mt. Hood with full parking lots everywhere. Plan to carpool, hitch, or take public transport.

The storm kicks off on Thursday morning and amplifies in the afternoon. The snow level will be 2000′ in the morning, 2500′ in the afternoon, and will fall as low as 1000′ overnight. About 0.4” water equivalent (WE) is forecast during the day for about 4” of increasingly dry snow. Another 0.8” WE (thanks, orographics) is in the cards tonight. Call that 8-9” dry, wind-deposited powder. Wind will be WSW 30 early, SW 20-30 midday, W 40 in the afternoon, and WNW 30-40 overnight.

With that much wind to start the day Friday, we could see some effects on lift ops. We’re also going to see a LOT of powder! The snow level will be 1000′ early, 1500′ in the afternoon, and as low as 0′ overnight. About 0.7” WE is forecast during the day for 7-8” dry, fluffy powder. Overnight, Another 0.6” WE is in the cards for another 6-7” powder. Wind: WNW 30-40 in the morning, WN 20-30 in the afternoon, and WNW 25-30 overnight.

Snow continues on Saturday. The snow level will be 0′ in the morning, 1500′ in the afternoon, and 0-500′ overnight. About 0.2” WE is forecast during the day for a couple inches of dry powder. The same is forecast overnight. Wind: WNW 25-30 in the morning, NW 20-30 in the afternoon, and NW 20-30 after midnight. Sunday looks clear and cool with the free air freezing level maxing out at 1500′ Wind will fade from NW 20-30 early to light/variable in the afternoon. Sunshine sticks around Monday morning, but snow is likely to return Monday night. There you go. Something for almost everyone. Enjoy!

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Gorge Wind Forecast

Four days of westerlies, but you’re probably driving for the strongest/steadiest wind as it’ll be intermittently rainy in the western Gorge. We start with W 13-17 all through the Gorge on Thursday morning. Pressures read 30.01-29.96-29.89, and we have a complicated picture today. A cold front swings through, and strong (1036mb) offshore high pressure builds this afternoon. We also have an unstable air mass. So… expect a period of gusty 25-29+ from Stevenson to Rufus early to mid afternoon. That strong wind then shifts east of The Dalles by the evening and drops to gusty 15-25 west of The Dalles. River flow is 84kcfs, river temp is 42F, and high temp forecast is 51F.

Friday starts with 10-13 in the weest and 17-20 east of The Dalles. Intermittent rain falls as far east as Mosier all day, so drive for the wind. By early afternoon, we’ll have 22-25 pretty much everywhere from (rainy) Stevenson to (not-rainy) Threemile. Late afternoon could see a brief period of 30-35 from The Dalles to Threemile with 14-17 in the western Gorge. Instability could interfere with this prediction. High temp: 46F. Saturday starts with light westerlies, perhaps 5-10. Thanks to strong offshore high pressure, westerlies pick up to 21-24 from Stevenson to The Dalles. Showers are possible west of Mosier all day. High temp: 46F.

Jones, Sauvie Island, Coast – Done for the Season

Hood River Weather Forecast

Mostly cloudy weather sticks around with intermittent rain all day and all night. Hail, graupel, and late night snain are possible. Temps will be in the low 40’s early and low 50’s later. Moderate westerlies in the morning, strong for a few hours in the afternoon. 99% chance of rainbows. Friday will be showery all day, mostly dry for a few hours in the evening, and rainy/snowy/snainy overnight. Temps start in the mid 30’s and rise to the mid 40’s. Moderate westerlies. 99% chance of rainbows. Saturday will probably start with snow or perhaps snain. Intermittent precipitation (snain, rain, graupel, hail) sticks around all day. Temps start just above freezing and rise to the mid 40’s (thanks, westerlies). Light west wind early. Moderate to strong later. 99% chance of rainbows.

Looking for a complete Columbia Gorge forecast? Looking for more humor in your weather? Obscenities? You’re looking for my TATAS: Temira’s Awesome Travel Advisory Service on Facebook.

Local-ish Events

Please let me know of outdoor-related local-ish events. If you don’t tell me, I don’t know!
The Meadows Strava Nordic race started 3/17. There’s a (secret?) rail jam at Little John on the evening of March 27th. April 2nd is an end-of-season party at Meadows Nordic. April 15th at 10am is the “Run with the Wild 5k” fun run to support the Wildland Firefighter Foundation.

Regular weekly events: NK Studios in Bingen has a donation-based yoga class at 7:30am every Tuesday. Ferment’s Tuesday night 4-mile walk/run is at 6pm. There’s meditation with monks at 5:15pm (an hour) and 6:30pm (30 minutes plus a talk) at Yoga Samadhi in White Salmon. At 7:15am on Wednesdays, there’s a run from the White Salmon Bakery. At 7am on Friday morning, there’s a run from Pine Street Bakery. On Fridays at 2:30pm, there’s a free meditation and stretching class at Yoga Samadhi. On Saturday at 9am, there’s a by-donation outdoor group fitness on the 2rd floor deck about Ferment Brewing. There’s a weekly group paddle to the Event Site on Sunday at 11 am followed by a free pint at the fire pit at Ferment. That’s the “Paddle n’ Pint”. Also: Wednesday Paddle Sprints at the Event Site at Noon.

Cycling

Many of the trails will be muddy with the exception of Syncline. Please avoid the muddy trails (Hospital Hill, Whoopdee, Post) – if you ride them, you’ll do major damage and ruin the next person’s ride.. You might be able to ride the Deschutes or Klickitat trails or Syncline, but you’ll be most successful on gravel. If it was below freezing the night before your ride, don’t ride trails that are exposed to the open air. Those trails will have freeze-thaw conditions, and you’ll do major damage. Consider gravel riding! If you’re parking at Post Canyon, you will need a parking pass. Those can be purchased at many local shops or online.