The Gorge Is My Gym

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Gorge Wind Forecast

The last heat wave of the summer (hopefully!) is about to slide into the Gorge. Remnant westerlies stick around on Tuesday. Wednesday evening might bring just enough wind for some foil sports, but there won’t be anything to ride on Thursday (ok, light easterlies for a few hours). Models start to disagree on Friday with large consequences for the wind outcome. Westerlies return Saturday or Sunday and stick around for a bit.

Looking at Tuesday, we see high pressure expanding over the region. Just enough temperature gradient persists to keep the wind moving through the Gorge. Early gradients were 0.06 and 0.01. Give up on the eastern Gorge; it’ll be calm today. Westerlies rise from 7-10 this morning to 14-17 between Stevenson and Hood River (10-13 Mosier) late morning or early afternoon. Late in the day, as the desert really heats up, the wind climbs to 17-20 between Stevenson and Hood River with 13-16 at Mosier and 10-13 to Doug’s. Caveat: if high clouds prevent the desert heat-up, wind will be less strong. High temp Hood River: 91F. The Dalles: 91F.

Metroland starts to bake on Wednesday, and the wind decreases in response. Expect 8-11 from Viento to Swell at dawn. By mid-morning, the wind will be 5-10 from Stevenson to Viento with light and variable wind to the east. That’s it until the evening. Late afternoon sees the westerlies pick up to 10-13 between Stevenson and Mosier. High temp HR: 99. TD: 105.

There’s a bit of disagreement in the models on Thursday, but that doesn’t really affect our forecast: calm in the morning, E 10-15 midday from Stevenson to Viento, and calm in the evening. High temp HR: 101. TD: 107.

Precision is lacking in the extended forecast. A weak system may or may not affect us on Friday and may or may not trigger afternoon thunder. Westerlies will be in the teens to low 20’s. Fuzziness continues in the forecast on Saturday: westerlies of some sort. Things become more clear as temps (most likely) drop on Sunday bringing stronger wind for Sunday and Monday. Long-range, we’re looking at cooler weather, which generally is a signal for wind of some sort. Thanks to this hot weather and light wind combined with extra workload this week, I’m going to take a day or two off. Stay cool!  

Coast, Jones, Coast

Coast (north/central/south, waves. Wind direction north unless otherwise noted. Swell forecast from NWS.) Tuesday: 15-20+/25-30/25-35, NW swell 4′ @ 7 seconds. Wednesday: 15-20/15-20/LTS, NW 5′ @ 8. Thursday: LTW/LTV/LTS, NW 7′ @ 11. Jones Tuesday: 12-15. Wednesday: 14-17. Thursday: 20-23. Sauvie’s Tuesday: 15-18. Wednesday: 14-17. Thursday: LTN.  

Mt. Hood Weather forecast

On vacation unless some wintry weather happens.  

Hood River Weather Forecast

Intermittent high clouds stick around Tuesday. Temps will be in the upper 60’s early and low 90’s later. Muggy. Moderate westerlies. No rainbows. Wednesday also has intermittent high clouds. Temps will be in the mid 60’s early and near 100 later. Light westerlies. No rainbows. Thursday brings another round of intermittent high clouds. Temps will be in the low 70’s (yuck) early and low 100’s later. Calm wind. No 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.  

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!

  Click here for the Sprinter Van map of the world!!!   Have an awesome day!