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Random Morning Thoughts
Gratitude Month, day 27: Today I am grateful for books and the written word. A well-crafted book is like a well crafted set of outerwear, providing a safe refuge from life’s storms. An insightful book can reflect your image so clearly that you can’t help but see things about yourself you’ve never seen before. Such a book can create enormous opportunity. Books have changed me for the better. Books can change you. They can change the world. Hooray for books and for the authors who craft them.
Awesome Temira-approved Local Business – Cebu Lounge and Riverside Grill
Hey Portland. Hey Hood River. Skip the cooking this Thanksgiving: ride or sail or ski all day and then head on down to Riverside for Thanksgiving dinner. They’ll take care of your dinner and clean up, with served plated dinners. Traditional turkey and trimmings, or vegetarian, prime rib, and salmon options. Serving 12-9pm. Reservations recommended. 541-386-4410. And as always, the best happy hour in the Gorge 4-6pm and $12 Prime Rib Tuesdays, Temira’s favorite. The folks on the mailing list are in a raffle for free Prime Rib for two. Don’t you wish you were on the mailing list?
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Mt. Hood Snow Interesting Weather Forecast
Today and tomorrow and Friday aren’t so exciting, but this weekend looks interesting. We’ll see high clouds over Mt. Hood today, with the free air freezing level (FAF) at 9,000′ and winds out of the S/SW at 10mph. Temps at 5000′ will be around 40°. Tomorrow starts with high clouds and clears up late. The FAF will be around 9,000′ and the wind will be W 10 early, switching to NW 10 in the afternoon. High temp at 5000′ will be around 40° .
Friday starts out not much different, with clear to partly cloudy sky, the FAF at 8,000′ and WNW wind at 10-15mph. We’ll see increasing clouds in the afternoon and slightly increasing NW wind. High temps will be in the upper 30’s.
For the weekend, we’re looking at a snow level of 7000′ on Saturday morning, dropping to 6000′ in the afternoon. We’ll see .1-.3” water value, likely as sprinkles, but possibly as very wet snow, between 10am and 4pm. Wind will be NW 20 early and W 10 in the afternoon.
Things get exciting Sunday. At this point, it looks like temps will be a bit warm for snow as the front approaches in the morning, leaving us with a chance of rain early, but the snow level will plummet in the afternoon. Couple that with abundant moisture and strong NW wind, and we’re looking at up to a foot of new falling overnight into Monday morning. Now, I know that’s not very specific, but we’re still a long ways out for specifics, and things could change. By Monday morning, the snow level will be at 500′ or less.
Plain Old Local Weather
Writing about chaotic sea-level weather gives me warm and fuzzy and hyperactive feelings, like I’m a human-shaped creature composed of Tribbles. Sure, the next three days are boring, but not the three following. Oh no. They are my kind of fun.
So, we’ll see high clouds over the Gorge today with temps rising to 40° or so. Overnight temps will fall just below freezing. Tomorrow looks very similar. Friday looks stellar, with temps rising into the upper 40’s in the afternoon under cloudy skies. We’ll see some sprinkles on Saturday, with temps in the mid 40’s. All that’s boring. Really boring. But… here’s where the Tribbles kick in: A massive cold front swings through on Sunday afternoon, or maybe overnight, dropping temps from the 40’s to the upper 20’s.
Is it going to snow? I think we’ll see a dusting late Sunday night. More importantly, I think we’ll see very icy roads on Monday morning. Snow tires would be a good idea, not because of a huge snow threat but because of the ice.
After Monday, you’ll need to break out your inner Tribbles, because you’re going to need them to stay warm. By Tuesday, we’re looking at Gorge highs under 20°. Highs. Not lows. My fur coat is so excited to parade around looking at frozen waterfalls in the western Gorge. Yay!
Arctic blasts are fun, not only because they’re exciting and invigorating, but also because they allow endless speculation on how they’ll end. Will see we a gradual warming trend? Or will we see a warm system come over the top, coating the Gorge in a sheet of ice and plastering smug looks on the faces of owners of studded snow tires, folks who usually walk around with downcast eyes, feeling slightly guilty for the damage they’re causing to public thoroughfares? (Yep, that’s me!) Or will some moisture become entrained in the N/NW flow, giving us a major snowstorm? (Please, please. I want to ski Burdoin and get poison oak!) So many speculative options. So much opportunity for daydreaming…
Gorge Wind Forecast
Is 51mph windy? If so, it’s windy at Rooster this morning. It’s not quite so windy at Stevenson, yet, with 25mph the reading at 6:30am. E.21 gradient means the nuking conditions will stick around today. Tomorrow, Thanksgivukkah, brings 26-30mph, and Friday brings light east wind early switching to light west wind in the afternoon. Saturday brings westerlies in the upper teens, and Sunday sees afternoon westerlies in the eastern Gorge at 30-40. Probably. That’s a long ways out.
In more exciting wind news, next week’s arctic air blast is going to set up gradients that make this week’s gradients look like nothing. The (admittedly) far-out forecast for Wednesday implies averages in excess of 60mph at Rooster coupled with temps in the 20’s. That would give a wind chill of -4°. Neat.
Road and Mountain Biking
If you ride Post Canyon before 10am, it will likely still be frozen. But the real news is Sandy Ridge, which is, according to Dirty Fingers, currently nothing short of epic. I love Sandy Ridge. Frozen-solid Sandy Ridge sounds sweet.
The Clymb: free membership. Cheap gear. Temira approves. Click to join.
Events – email me if I’ve missed any outdoor-related events
Karma Yoga (free or by donation) happens tonight at Flow Yoga at 4pm. No Kayak Polo tonight, but it returns next week. If you would like to get exercise before you eat turducken tomorrow, there’s the Turkey Trot Run 3k/5k/12k benefiting the Mosier School. Registration opens at 9am at the Twin Tunnels Trailhead. There’s also a run at Whitson Elementary school, for those of you on the 509 side of the Port of Hood River’s money tree. Coming up Friday, there’s a big Hanukkah party with lotsa latkes and Thanksgivukkah leftovers.
Kanaha Beach Park Petition Information
I’m passing on the link to the Kanaha Beach Park petition. My (admittedly incomplete) understanding of the issue is that there’s been a conflict between swimmers and kiters, resulting in a lawsuit to close major portions of the waterfront to vessels (including kiteboards and windsurfers). This lawsuit asks the state to enforce laws already on the books but not currently being enforced. Make a difference: sign the petition. Keep Kanaha accessible to all users.
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
