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Random Morning Thoughts
Wow. 60 degree sunny bike ride in The Dalles yesterday made my month! Remember what I said yesterday about being jealous of Portland? Well, never mind. I’m actually jealous of The Dalles!
Cool Local Business – Please Support It
ReRack, a 6-year-old Portland business, is your place to buy, sell, and trade your Yakima and Thule rack parts. Brilliant idea, right? They provide free advice and free basic installation too. Head to ReRack, 2240 NE Sandy Blvd, to buy your first rack, sell your old rack or better yet make your old rack work on your new vehicle! Check out www.rerackpdx.com or Call (503) 875-6055 for more information. Go check it out. What a brilliant idea!
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Mt. Hood Snow Forecast
What’s falling on Mt. Hood right now is not snow. Not by any stretch of the imagination. The only way to work the word “snow” into today’s precip is to refer to it as “snow water equivalent”. Strictly speaking, this isn’t Pineapple Express, but it’s more fun to reference it as that.
Anyway, the snow level today will be 8000′ early, falling to 7000′ mid-morning and rising back to 8500′ this afternoon as a second system moves in. The snow level drops overnight, falling to 5500′ by Thursday morning. We’ll see 1.5” rain this morning, a bit of a break during the afternoon, and then another 1.5-2” water value (WV) overnight. With the snow level dropping, there’s a decent chance we’ll see a couple inches of wet new snow at 5000′ by Thursday morning with more higher up. Wind today will be WSW 45 early, falling to SW 35 this afternoon and picking up to SW 60 overnight.
Thursday’s a tricky one. The snow level will be 5500′ early, falling to 5000′ mid-morning, jumping briefly to 6000′ ahead of the incoming system early afternoon, and then falling to 5000′ around 4pm and 3500′ around 7pm. Precip starts around 7am, for 1.5” WV by 4pm and another .5-1.0” WV overnight. At this point, I’m thinking this will mostly be snow, with a few periods of rain mixed in. So, call it 4-6” at 5000′ with 8-13” at 6500′ during the day. Most of the precip will fall before 7pm, but I think we can expect another 4-6” Thursday night. Wind Thursday will be SW 60 early, becoming W 60 mid-afternoon as the upper low moves east. This is going to be a full-on blizzard in the afternoon on Mt. Hood if the low passes as close to the mountain as models are currently showing.
Friday looks partly cloudy with a few orographic snow flurries in the morning, becoming sunny. The freezing level will be 3000′ early, slowly rising to 7500′ by 10pm. Wind will be WNW 35 early, dropping to NW 10 in the afternoon and becoming light southerly overnight.
Saturday looks cloudy and warm with very heavy rain starting late in the afternoon or early in the evening. Sunday currently looks rainy, at least in the morning.
Gorge Wind
Light wind this morning gives way to west wind at 10-15 this afternoon. It’ll be very windy overnight tonight, but light to start off Thursday. Westerlies pick up to gusty 30+ late in the day Thursday. Friday starts with west wind at 15-18 and backs off to light wind in the afternoon.
Gorge Weather
It’s going to be a rainy day today, with a rainbow break in the steady drizzle possible between 1pm and 4pm. Temps will be in the mid-40’s this morning and low 50’s this afternoon. Tomorrow looks rainy pretty much all day with temps in the mid-40’s early and low 50’s in the afternoon. Friday looks cloudy with temps in the low 40’s early and mid-50’s in the afternoon. Saturday starts off sunny, becoming cloudy in the afternoon, with temps in the 60’s. Yep. Warm. Delightful.
Road and Mountain Biking
You know what I said yesterday about wanting a 60 degree, sunny day in the valley? I found it! In The Dalles! What a day for a ride. The Rowena Curves have a lot of gravel on them, but the Rowena straightaway and Petersburg are gravel-free. If you want to ride today, you may find a short rain-free window between 1pm and 4pm. As for mountain biking, forget it. Too muddy.
The Clymb: free membership. Cheap gear. Temira approves. Click to join.
Events – email me if I’ve missed any outdoor-related events
Tonight at Columbia Center for the Arts, Jon Bell, author of “On Mt. Hood” gives a slideshow and lecture about our favorite local volcano. Jon’s a good dude, and Sense of Place lectures are fun. I recommend this one. Also tonight, there’s Karma Yoga at Flow (free/by donation) at 4pm and ping pong ($5) at the Hood River Armory at 6:30pm.
Coming up March 8th, it’s Bowl For Kids’ Sake, the annual fundraiser for Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Now look, folks. This program saves lives. Kids who have a “big” have lower dropout rates, better mental health, better grades and more success in life. Trust me on this one, and please make a donation. Any amount helps. And if you want to be involved, there are kids looking for Bigs. Just 2 hours a week can change a kid’s life. Call 541-436-0306 for more information.
Also March 8th, it’s the Feast of Words fundraiser at the Hood River Library from 6-9pm. So you can do Bowl for Kids’ Sake and then go to the fundraiser. Books saved my life when I was a kid, so I therefore deem this a worthy cause, despite its lack of connection with the outdoors (although I do love reading books in my hammock, outside).
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
