Tuesday: cooler and wetter with lots of snow coming for the mountains!

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

Thank you for using this forecast. Like it? Find it useful? Support it (and me!) by sending some cash my way. What’s it cost to support me and get the email version? Not $99 a year. Nope. Not $49. Just $19.99 or more gets you a year. People are added to this list on Thursday and Sunday. My day job is crisis mental health, and I don’t have time on other days. Thanks for your patience! Click below to contribute. Thank you!!

Auto-renewing subscription. Easy. Awesome. Set and forget!

Thank you for contributing and keeping this forecast going! Not ready to subscribe? No problem – please share this forecast with all your friends too! I appreciate your support!

The Forecast

Snow level	4a-8a	8a-12p	12p-4p	4p-8p	8p-4a
Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
Tuesday 1500′->2000′
Wednesday 2000->3000′->2000′
Thursday 2000′->3500′

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

Good morning skiers, snowboarders, Nordic skiers, and all the rest of you. The forecast for the next two weeks says, “Ski season, game on!”. Temps at 850mb (5000′) stay below 0C, and all the incoming moisture falls as snow. Even better, the systems come in from the NW; this will be (mostly) colder, high-quality snow, quantities will benefit from orographic enhancement, and the snow will fall down to our lowest ski resort elevations. Two-week percentiles: 25th: 45”. 50th: 56”. 90th: 78”. That’s a lot of snow!

Tuesday kicks things off with light snowfall. The effective snow level (based on 850mb temps) will be 5000′ during the day. It falls to 3500-4000′ overnight. That said, pockets of cold air will take the actual snow level near Mt. Hood down to 2000′ or less. About 0.2” water equivalent (WE) is forecast during the day. Call that 2” new snow. Overnight, another 0.1” WE arrives for another inch of new. Wind will be S 10-15 in the morning building to SW 15-30 in the afternoon and becoming variable to 10mph overnight.

Light snow continues through Wednesday midday. After that: clearing sky. The snow level will be around 2000′ in the morning, 3000′ in the afternoon, and 2000′ overnight. About 0.1” WE is forecast during the morning for an inch of new snow. The sky clears in the afternoon and stays clear overnight. Wind: light and variable in the morning becoming light westerly in the afternoon. Thursday looks like a gorgeous groomer day: clear sky, free air freezing level at 2500′, and light wind.

The next system arrives on Friday and continues through Sunday morning. The snow level for this one starts around 3500′ and quickly drops to 1500′. For that time period (we’ll dig into the details as we get closer), models call for 1.7” to 2.5” WE. That’s about 18-30” of new snow. Yay. Very very good.

Gorge Wind Forecast

Hi friends! Today, Tuesday, will be the windiest of the next three. Friday’s wind has backed way off, but it’s worth mentioning that there are two or three days of moderate west wind in the picture thanks to a big shift in the weather pattern. For today, through, you’ve got easterlies and rain. Expect 40-45 at Iwash (Rooster) Rock all day. Stevenson starts at 25-30 and picks up to 35-40. Light rain starts mid-morning and becomes heavy early afternoon. River flow yesterday was 81-110kcfs, river temp is 44F, and high temp forecast is 40F with rain.

Wednesday starts with 20-25 at Iwash and 15-20 at Stevenson. The wind drops to 15 at both launches in the afternoon. High temp: 44F under cloudy sky. Thursday starts with 10-15 at Stevenson and 5-10 at Iwash. The wind goes calm midday and turns light westerly (5mph or so) in the afternoon. High temp: 45F. Friday’s forecast had initially been a nuker as a compact low crossed the Cascades just north of the Columbia. That low disappeared from the picture in the latest run. It’s replaced by an open wave, which just won’t have the same effect. Expect the forecast to continue bouncing around, but for now, it’s 20-23 in the western Gorge and gusty 22-26 out east. Still… that’s a west wind day. Models hint at westerlies of some sort Saturday and Sunday as well, but there’s a ton of uncertainty. Generally speaking, the upcoming pattern change is more conducive to westerlies (or calm wind) than easterlies. Enjoy!

FORECAST SPONSORED BY / AWESOME COMPANIES TO SUPPORT

Jones, Sauvie’s, Coast – On vacation ‘til summer unless otherwise noted

Hood River Weather Forecast

Clouds this morning add rain midday and keep drizzle around all night. Temps start in the upper 30’s and rise to 40 or so. Easterlies. No rainbows. Wednesday will be drizzly in the morning and mostly cloudy and dry in the afternoon. Temps start in the mid 30’s and rise to the mid 40’s. Easterlies. 5% chance of rainbows. Thursday will be cloudy during the day and clear overnight. A few sprinkles are possible early in the day. Temps start in the mid 30’s and rise to the mid 40’s. Light easterlies early. Calm wind midday. Light westerlies later. 2% 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!

Registration is open for Gorge Ultimate winter league. Sign up here: https://gorge.ultimatecentral.com/e/winter-league-2024 – Teacup has an après ski fundraiser at the Ruins on January 27th. $25. Amayah’s Indian Cafe (Biggs) offers a free meal every first Thursday from 1-4pm.

Regular weekly events:. NK Studio’s by-donation Tuesday morning yoga class is back. 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. The Tri Club is done for the season. 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.

Cycling

Regarding the trails in general: don’t ride in the mud. You’ll damage the trails. Don’t ride trails if it was below freezing the previous night and is above freezing when you want to ride. Ride gravel. Ride your trainer. Build trails. There are trail builders seeking extra hands on seven additional miles of trail on Whoopdee. Contact HRATS for more information. If you’re parking at Post Canyon, you will need a parking pass. Those can be purchased at many local shops or online.