Your forecaster.
Random Morning Thoughts
It’s National Gratitude Month all month long. Today I am grateful for my coworkers at Mt. Hood Meadows, especially the lift maintenance team. These people have become my family over the last few years, and I am grateful to have them in my life.
Cool local business – please support them!
There are some businesses that are just plain awesome. Dirt Hugger is one. Too much food waste at your business or municipality? Dirt Hugger will take it away! All that food waste becomes food-for-your-garden compost. Temira’s guerilla garden agrees: Dirt Hugger compost is the best! Pick it up or have it delivered. Call them today, and make your garden happy with a winter layer of compost: 541.9four6.347eight.
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Mt. Hood Snow Forecast
Non-skiiing weather continues on Mt. Hood today. The snow level will be 6500′ early, 8000′ mid-morning, and 9000′ this afternoon and tonight. Total rainfall will be .1-.3”. Wind will be W 25 early, swinging to SW 20 midday and increasing to SW 30-40 overnight.
Tomorrow starts out in the warm air ahead of an incoming upper low. The snow level will be 8000′ early. As the cold front moves in, the snow level will fall to 5000′ around 1pm and 3500′ by 7pm. Models are all over the place with precipitation amounts and timing, so I’m going to go with a conservative gut call. We’ll see .7-1” of rain before the snow level falls. That’s rain. The wet stuff. After the cold front passes, strong westerlies will cause orographic snowfall, for another .4-.8” water value, or 4-8” of new snow. The wind on Thursday will be SW 40 early, W 50 midday, and W 50-60 in the afternoon and evening.
It’s worth noting that today’s NOAA forecast calls for 1-2 feet of snow Thursday night into Friday. That mirrors my forecast from yesterday, when models were showing 1-2” water value coming in after the snow level dropped, meaning we’d see 12-18+” of snow. Today those models are showing .1-.3” WV. Big change = big uncertainty in the forecast = big downgrade in snow amounts.
Anyway, complicated and difficult-to-predict day on Thursday. Friday looks relatively dry, with a few lingering flurries. The snow level will be around 3000′ all day, and wind will be WNW 30, backing to W 20 later in the day. In the long range forecast, it looks like the weather will warm up, bringing rain to Mt. Hood on Sunday and Monday.
Plain Old Local Weather
Today, according to NOAA, will be “murky”. It certainly looks murky outside my window. We may see a few sprinkles during the day. Heavier rain will pick up after 4pm. So, get your outside activities in as early as possible. Tomorrow may start off relatively dry, but very heavy rain moves in by 10am, and sticks around pretty much all day. Friday looks cloudy and damp, but not very rainy.
Gorge Wind Forecast
There will be no wind in the Gorge this morning, and there will only be light wind this afternoon. The wind may not destroy your hairdo today, but the humidity will. Tomorrow’s wind picture looks different: As an offshore low moves onshore sometime around noon, we’ll see westerlies pick up to rainy/gusty 17-21 in the western Gorge with 28-32+ east of The Dalles. Friday brings lingering westerlies at 13-15.
Road and Mountain Biking
I refuse to discuss the lack of biking right now.
The Clymb: free membership. Cheap gear. Temira approves. Click to join.
Events – email me if I’ve missed any outdoor-related events
Speaking of lack of biking, coming up on Saturday, the HRATS and I are taking a crew of people to Columbia Hills State Park out by Horsethief Butte to put the finishing touches on a 6.5 mile multi-use trail that will be open to mountain bikes. This should be a year-round trail, and we could use 15-20 people to help us. We’ll meet at 10 Speed Coffee on 13th and State at 8:30am, and should be done by 1:30pm. Please RSVP here so I can track how many people can help. Bring a bike, gloves, helmet, and eye protection. And thank you for helping!
Today is Wednesday. At the Hood River pool tonight at 8pm, there’s Kayak Polo. Apparently the PDX Kayaker Film Festival was canceled, so people have no excuse to skip out on polo tonight. There’s also Karma Yoga (free/donation) at 4pm at Flow.
On Thursday in Portland, local photographer Jock Bradley has a show opening at Gallery 903. This is his first show, and he’s a stellar human being. If you are in Portland on Thursday night for First Thursday, please make sure to stop by and say hello.
Friday night is the Warren Miller ski movie at the Skylight Theater, benefiting HRVMS. Both showings are all ages, and there’s a Meadows pass plus lots of other stuff in the raffle. Meadows will be there taking pass photos. Friday night is also dropoff time at the HRVHS ski swap: 6:30-8pm. The swap is Saturday. Friday through Sunday is the Mt. Hood Independent Film Festival. Day passes are $15 and a full festival pass is $35.
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
