Tuesday: heat, smoke, wind, chance of thunder

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Gorge Wind Forecast

Westerlies return today and stick around through the weekend in some form or other. Thanks to a cold front headed our way late Thursday, temps will drop back into the 70’s and 80’s this weekend and the wind will shift to the east.

Not on Tuesday. Not at all. It’ll be hot, and the wind will be focused in the central Gorge. Early gradients of 0.08 (pdx-dls) and 0.01 (dls-psc) agree. Viento starts at 20-23, but everywhere else is less than 10mph. The wind fills to Swell for the Dawn Patrol session and then dips to 15-18 from Stevenson to Swell mid-morning. After that, there’s a slow build to 21-24 from Stevenson to Moiser mid-afternoon followed by a shift to Mosier-Celilo at 22-25 in the evening. East of there: light and variable. At that point, the western Gorge is likely to drop to 14-17. It’s worth mentioning that the Cascade Crest and areas to the east are under a marginal risk of strong, surface-based thunderstorms this afternoon. That instability is likely to disrupt the wind field as the day goes on. Result: gusty, lighter-than-predicted westerlies. River flow is 115kcfs, river temp is a salmon-killing 72F, and high temp forecast is 94F.

Hot weather and full sunshine sticks around on Wednesday. Westerlies respond with 21-24 for Dawn Patrol from Viento to Swell with 8-11 east to Arlington and west to Stevenson. The wind drops to 17-20 mid-morning, and then fills in as far east as Avery in the evening. Rufus: 7-10. Arlington: LTV. High temp: 94F.

An offshore cold front moves towards the Pacific Northwest from the NW on Thursday. High temps drop by 15F. Models have been trending later and later with this system’s arrival. That’s pushed the strongest wind later in the day. Morning wind will be 21-24 from Viento tot Swell with 7-10 to the east. Midday: 23-26 from Viento to Mosier with LTV in the eastern Gorge. Evening: 27-31 from Mosier to Rufus with 22-26 at Arlington and 13-16 in the western Gorge. It’s likely there will be 90-120 minutes of strong wind between Viento and Hood River before that shift to the eastern Gorge. Don’t hesitate if that’s where you want to be! High temp: 81F.

Hood River stays cloudy and cool (high: 69F) on Friday with a chance of rain. Head to the eastern Gorge for 24-27 in the afternoon. Saturday and Sunday currently are forecast to be 22-26ish. Have a great week on the river!  

Coast, Jones, Coast

Coast (north/central/south, waves. Wind direction north unless otherwise noted. Swell forecast from NWS.) Tuesday: 10-15/15-20/25-30, W swell 2′ at 8 seconds. Wednesday: 15-20/15-20/side-off 20-30, W 4′ @ 11. Thursday: LTW/LTNW/N20-25, W 5′ @ 11. Jones Tuesday: 19-22. Wednesday: 13-16. Thursday: 22-25. Sauvie’s Tuesday: 10-13. Wednesday: 13-16. Thursday: 11-14??.  

Mt. Hood Weather forecast

On vacation unless some wintry weather happens.  

Hood River Weather Forecast

High clouds stick around this morning and clear this afternoon with a chance of thunderstorms building. Temps will be near 70 early and in the mid 90’s later. Moderate westerlies. No rainbows. Wednesday looks clear. Temps will be in the mid 60’s early and mid 90’s later. Moderate westerlies. No rainbows. Thursday looks clear and may pick up a few little fluffy clouds later. Temps will be in the low 60’s early and low 80’s in the afternoon. Westerlies start moderate and turn strong. No rainbows. Rain and rainbows are forecast for Friday.

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.  

Cycling

SDS (Whoopdee, Underwood), BLC, HFM, DGS, and Kreps Land (Hospital Hill) are now closed until the end of fire season. It is also vital that people respect this closure to maintain positive relationships between the landowners and trail users. DNR land in Eastern Washington (Buck Creek / Nestor Peak) is all closed to recreation due to fire danger.

Open trails: Post, Falls Creek, Lewis River, Sandy Ridge, Columbia Hills, Gorge 400, Plains of Abraham / Ape Canyon. 44 Road: Eightmile, Fifteenmile, Bottle Prairie, Dog River, Superconnector, Cedar, Knebal, Cooks Meadows, 450 to the top, Gunsight, Underhill. Siouxon and Huffman Peak are “temporarily closed” due to wildfire last year.

Maple Road in Post Canyon is closed. DO NOT drive past the closed signs. If you do so, you will jeopardize TRAIL access for the entire summer. This is the road that runs to the west, just north of the Binns/Riorden intersection. Also, the trail from the bottom of Post Canyon to Seven Streams Staging Area is now closed. It’s on private land. Respect the closure.  

Local Events

IFPL 3 restrictions west of Highway 35 went into effect on 7/16. No more motorized use in Post Canyon trails. Mountain View Cycles women’s ride is every Thursday, bottom of Post at 5:30pm. They have an all-genders ride at 6pm on Wednesday, end of the pavement on Post Canyon Road. Their shop road ride leaves at 9am on Saturday for a 2 hour ride. Dirty Fingers has the Post n’ Pint on Thursday evenings at 5:30pm from the shop. They also have the women’s Post n’ Pinot Wednesday evening at 5:30pm from the shop. Oregon E-Bikes has ladies’ rides at 7:30am Sunday and Monday. The Small Boat Group does paddles every Thursday evening at 6pm at the Hatchery.

Other weekly events. Tuesday night there’s meditation with the Pacific Hermitage Monks at 5:15 (1 hour) and 6:30 (30 minutes followed by a talk) at Yoga Samadhi in White Salmon. In-person meditation is on “pause” due to the recent Covid surge. It will happen on the Pacific Hermitage YouTube page at 6:30. Triathlon practice with the Tri Club is Tuesday at 6pm at West Mayer State Park. Sailboat races happen Wednesday night from the Hood River Marina. There are also lesser races on Friday nights. Cheno’s workout is every Saturday at 10am at the Ferment Lawn in Hood River ($10). Families in the Park starts August 5th at Jackson Park and runs for several weeks on Thursday evening.  

Sprinter Van of the Week!

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