It’s going to be another windy day in the Gorge today, but once again, dynamics in the upper atmosphere (weak frontal system) may wreak a little havoc on the wind quality and reliability. As of 7am – I managed to sleep that late after Strava (the cat, not the website) woke me at 4am and I threw her in the spare bedroom – our gradients were .12 (pdx-dls), .04 (dls-psc) and .59 (eph-dls). Normally I’d just say, “HATCH DAY” but I’m looking at a few marine clouds outside my window, and that complicates things. Continued after the chart.
| Your favorite beach | Dawn Patrol |
9am- 11:30a |
11:30a- 3pm |
3pm- dusk |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steven’s Locks | 13-16 | 20-23 | 24-28 | 24-28 | |
| Hatchery/White Salmon Sandbar (minus a few for Hood River) | 20-23 | 26-30 | 26-30 | 20-23 | |
| Doug’s, Lyle, Rowena | 8-11 | 15-18 | 26-30 | 26-30 | |
| Rufus, etc. | 8-11 | 13-16 | 26-30 | 26-30 | |
| Roosevelt, etc. | thunder! | 13-16 | 20-24 | 24-28 | |
|
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Gorge Wind Forecast, continued…
So, here’s what I think: We’ll see a quick jump to the mid twenties from Swell to Mosier, with up-and-down/gusty conditions likely near Swell. By late morning or early afternoon, we’ll have 26-30 from Mosier to Rufus, with the longest-lasting wind likely at Rowena and Doug’s. As always, the Maryhill section of river is tricky. If you drive pre-emptively, you’re going to have the best chance of catching it when it’s good – the setup today isn’t perfect. Further east, expect 15-18 early and 22-25 late in the afternoon. Rereading this, I see that I haven’t emphasized the effect of an approaching low pressure trough and that pesky front. They’ll have an impact on the wind, so if it’s windy, don’t wait around – go get it before it’s gone!
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The low pressure trough sits atop the region tomorrow like a clown on a child in a nightmare. (whoa… where did that come from?!) Anyway, we’ll likely see low clouds past Hood River tomorrow, and that’s actually not a bad thing. Expect 12-15 in the morning from Mosier eastward with 24-28 in the afternoon from Mosier to Rufus with less wind east and west of that patch of river.
Thursday starts with 10-13 and picks up to 23-26. Friday looks about the same, and there’s no sign of the wind stopping any time in the extended forecast.
Coast (north/central/south). Today: 10-15/15-20/30-35, NW swell 5′ at 10 seconds. Tomorrow: 5-10/10-15/30-35, NW 6′ @ 9. Thursday: 5-10/10-15/20-25, NW 5′ @ 9.
Jones n’ Sauvie’s beta test forecast: Jones today, 22-25. Jones tomorrow, 13-16. Jones Thursday, 20-23. Sauvie’s today, 10-13. Sauvie’s tomorrow, 5-8. Sauvie’s Thursday, 5-8.
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Mt. Hood Snow Forecast
Nothing to say here today.
Random Morning Thoughts
I’m thinking about Cuba today. No, not Cuban cigars or coffee or the Torta Cubana, my favorite sandwich. Cuba. The country with which the USA is normalizing relations. We’ve reopened embassies, and flags are flying.
How did we end up taking those flags down in the first place and keeping them down for decades? Well, like all politics, it’s complicated. But essentially, it’s about fear, propaganda, and a lack of critical thinking. Same thing goes for drug policies (many of which arose out of racism), torture (which doesn’t work), and vaccination.
The fear of vaccines arose from one very small (I believe it was 8 participants) study linking vaccines to autism. The study, flawed and falsified, was later recanted, and the author’s medical license was revoked (the last piece of information comes from my professor at PSU – I was unable to verify it myself. The study, however, was flawed, unscientific, and falsified, and was recanted). However, the rumor that vaccines and autism are linked spread through American society (no wonder – moms want to protect kids), and millions of people stopped vaccinating.
They also stopped thinking critically – they didn’t look for other evidence to support this one study’s claim. They didn’t change their thinking when the study was revoked.
We do this all the time. A source we trust, an authority in our life, (Fox, NYT, friend, professor) tells us something, and we believe it without researching further. But authorities can be wrong. It’s possible they want to sway our opinion. So we need to do our own research. We need to think critically. We need to form our own opinions of the world, not just follow the opinions of others.
When we don’t, we demonize countries like Cuba (which, btw, has a fantastic health care system), we leave our kids unprotected from deadly diseases and put our neighbors’ kids at risk, we prohibit some drugs (weed) and not others (alcohol and tobacco), and we’re subject to manipulation by authority figures, news sources, friends, and bloggers with an agenda. So, do your research, stand with your opinion, and be open to changing it. And have an awesome day!
Gorge Weather Forecast
You are not going to believe this: we’ve got sunshine on the docket for today. You may see a few clouds drift into Hood River as a low pressure trough sags over the region. Temps will be in the low 60’s early and the low 80’s this afternoon. Strong wind. Tomorrow sees even more low clouds (aka “The Marine Layer”) as the trough moves east. Temps will be in the low 60’s early and the upper 70’s in the afternoon. Light wind early. Strong wind late. Thursday again sees a few low clouds in the morning and sunshine in the afternoon. Temps will be in the low 60’s early and the low 80’s in the afternoon. No rainbows for the 72 hour period.
White Sprinter Van of the Day
Road and Mountain Biking
Still nothing new to report here. According to my friend Viggers, the new pavement in Parkdale is amazing.
The Clymb: free membership. Cheap gear.
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Upcoming Events
There are a couple of wind-dependent events this week, and the organizers are probably pretty happy right now. The Gorge Paddling Festival, for outrigger canoes, surfskis and kayaks, is all week long, with daily downwind shuttles and races starting on Thursday. This weekend is the Longboard windsurfing races in Stevenson and at Hood River’s Event site. There’s also an Ezzy demo (free) at Doug’s beach today from 12:30 to 5pm.
Other events include a community yoga class every Tuesday morning at 8am at Flow Yoga (Power Vinyasa Flow), pickup touch rugby at the Hood River Marina fields at 5:30, triathlon practice at Mayer park at 6, Manbo’s fun ride from Mt. View Cycles to Mosier’s pub at 5:15 and another free yoga class at Mosier’s senior center at 7 tonight. If you’re into Mindfulness, there’s a meditation tonight at Yoga Samadhi at 6:30 with the monastics from Pacific Hermitage. As always, this is my favorite weekly event (right up there with talking to my therapist).
If you’ve got kids, save tomorrow night for Families at Family Man – casual riding with your little ones in Post Canyon. Bring snacks to share. Tomorrow’s also the women’s Post n’ Pinot mountain bike ride at Dirty Fingers, Ping pong at Hood River’s Armory, a whitewater paddle at Husum, all at 5:30. There’s Aikido at Trinity and Sailboat racing at the Hood River Marina at 6pm.
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
