Categories
Forecast

Wednesday: chillier today, wetter this weekend, probably lots of snow for the mountains

The best snow forecast for Mt. Hood. The best wind forecast for the Gorge.
Support it with a contribution!

Thank you for using this forecast. Writing it takes 60-120 minutes a day; I can only keep it going with your generous financial support. Make a contribution or subscribe and get it in your inbox with bonus material. What’s that cost? Not $99 a year. Nope. Not $49. Contribute $19.99 or more, and you’re on the list for a year. People are added to this list on Thursday and Sunday. Thanks for your patience! Click below to contribute and keep the forecast going for everyone, nearly every day. Please include your email address in your contribution – PayPal/Venmo do not tell it to me!

Credit card payments use this button

Click here to use your PayPal
Venmo: @theGorgeismyGym
Snail Mail: Temira Lital, PO Box 841, Hood River, Oregon 97031
(note: I am not a non-profit entity. The only way to accept credit cards with a user-defined amount is to use the ‘donate’ button. Thanks for understanding!)

Auto-renewing subscription. New! Awesome!

The Forecast

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
4a-8a 8a-12p 12p-4p 4p-8p 8p-4a
Wednesday
2500′->0′
Thursday
0′->6000′
Friday
6500′

Mt. Hood Weather Forecast

Wow. Yesterday’s wind was much stronger than expected (it shut down lots of lifts), and the overnight snowfall wasn’t as robust as hoped. That said, we’ve still got about 4-5” new, and that’ll turn groomed conditions back to packed powder. A little more snow falls Wednesday morning before the sky clears. We then get a mix of high clouds and sun through Saturday morning. After that: days of atmospheric rivers, some of which will be plenty cool for snowfall. Details, unfortunately, are far from clear.

Wednesday starts with lingering snow flurries and turns mostly clear in the afternoon with clear sky overnight. The snow level will be 2500′ this morning. The free air freezing level (FAF) will fall to 0′ tonight. Just an inch of snow is forecast before the precip stops. Wind: E 10-15 this morning, ENE 10 this afternoon, and NE 10 overnight.

Thursday starts out clear with temps in the teens. The FAF will be 0′ in the morning, 3500′ in the afternoon (with temps around 32F), and 6000′ after midnight. No precip. Wind: NE 10 in the morning, W 15 from mid-afternoon on through the night.

Not much happens on Friday – clouds start the day. By afternoon, the sky turns clear and stays that way through the night. The FAF will be around 6500′ all day. Wind: W 10-15 in the morning, SW 15-30 in the afternoon, and SW 25-45 overnight ahead of an approaching system.

That system arrives on Saturday morning, and it’s looking like snow! Lots of snow! If nothing changes, we’ll get at least a foot and possibly two out of this system with a max snow level of 3000′. That sets you up for a powder day on Sunday. Temps start rising on Monday – that looks like the first round of rain. After that – the range of temp/snow level predictions is large every day next week. That makes it quite difficult to determine the ratio of snow and rain on Mt. Hood. As a matter of fact, the two week snowfall total ranges from 12” to 72”. Yeah. Definitely some “wait and see” this round. Have a great day today!

Note on wind speeds. Different wind directions are experienced in different ways on Mt. Hood. For example, west wind at 50mph will hit the slopes and exposed ridges at W 50. SW 50 may hit the ridges at SW 50, but will likely only be SW 20 below tree line. Hence the ranges for wind. Depends where you are on the mountain. Hopefully that helps clarify.  

Gorge Wind Forecast

The best chance for wind over the next three days is on Thursday. Starting this weekend, we move into a much more active weather pattern. That will likely bring westerlies, but they’ll be very gusty and likely wet. For Wednesday, we starts with easterlies at Rooster and westerlies out east. The wind will eventually turn easterly at 15-20 from Rooster to Viento with E 5-10 east to Arlington. River flow is 156kcfs, river temp is 40F, and high temp forecast is 42F. Thursday starts with E 20-25 at Rooster and Stevenson with 15-20 near Viento. The wind turns calm late morning or early afternoon and very light westerly late in the day. Areas east of Viento will likely remain calm. High temp: 50F. Friday starts calm and turns to light westerly, probably 10mph or less, and probably just west of Hood River. High temp: 58F.  

Coast, Jones, Coast

Done until spring, unless there’s an obvious Coast or Sauvie’s or Jones day.  

Hood River Weather Forecast

Mostly cloudy sky this morning with a bit of mist gives way to mostly clear sky. Temps will be in the mid 30’s early and low 40’s later. Light to moderate easterlies. 19% chance of rainbows. Thursday will be clear in the morning then high overcast. Temps will be in the mid 20’s early and near 50 later. Calm wind. No rainbows. Friday will be cloudy and then clear. Temps will be in the mid 30’s early and upper 50’s in the afternoon. Calm wind early. Light westerlies later. 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

Please be very selective about what trails you ride today – some are too wet. Some are perfect brown pow. Ride those! If you ride the trails when they are muddy, you’ll damage them. Then everyone has to spend time fixing the damage instead of building you new trails. Best responses if you did ride: 1) donate money to the Hood River Area Trail Stewards; 2) show up for as many trail work parties as you can this spring.  

Local Events

Please let me know about events. I often only hear about them if you folx let me know!

Ferment’s Tuesday night 4-mile walk/run is back. Meet there at 6pm. At 7:15am on Wednesdays, there’s a run from the White Salmon Bakery. At 7am on Friday morning, you can get a donut and coffee for going for a run at Kickstand Coffee. There’s a night-lit shop mountain bike ride with the Mountain View Cycles crew at Syncline on Wednesday evenings at 5:45pm. The Cold Lap mixed surface ride is at Dirty Fingers at 2pm on Sundays. The Small Boat paddlers have a group paddle on Sunday at 11am at the Event Site The John Craig memorial ski race and tour is March 19th in Sisters on McKenzie Pass. Teacup has the “Glides of Spring” skate race on 3/19. Meadows Nordic has a Strava skate race happening between March 4th and, oh, sometime a few weeks from then.  

Sprinter Van of the Week!

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

By Temira

Temira Lital is a recreation and travel weather forecaster based in Hood River, Oregon. Temira uses they/them pronouns. They're also a mental health counselor. Temira bikes, skis, windsurfs, paddles a SUP, swims in mountain lakes, and loves gardening. Most recently they've taken up SUP foiling. Temira is powered by La Croix, protein, and beets.