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Wednesday: hi, mountain snow. nice to see you. who wants to shred Mt. Hood? All of us!

The best snow forecast for Mt. Hood. The best wind forecast for the Gorge.

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The Forecast

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast – 5000′
Snow level 4a-8a 8a-12p 12p-4p 4p-8p 8p-4a
Wednesday
2000”->2500′->1500′
Thursday
1500′->4000′->1500′
Friday
1500-2000′

Mt. Hood Snow Forecast

Good morning skiers and snowboards and Nordic schussers. Our local spots picked up a few inches of snow last night, and there’s more coming. The snow level hovers around 1500′-2000′ for almost all of the next 10 days, and the mountains pick up a bunch of snow. 7 day percentiles range from 16” at the 25th percentile to 27” at the 90th percentile. 14 day percentiles: 25th: 50”. 50th: 57” 90th: 87”. In other words, things look really good!

Flurries Wednesday morning give way to a short period of clear sky (maybe?) followed by more snow Wednesday night. The snow level will be 2000′ in the morning, 2500′ in the afternoon, and 1500-2000′ overnight. Temps at 850mb (5000′) will be in the mid to upper 20’s, so this won’t be the fluffiest snow, but it’ll be great for building the snowpack and forming park features. Starting late morning or early afternoon, the sky drops 0.3” water equivalent (WE) for 2-3” new snow by sunset. Another 0.2” WE falls overnight, for a couple inches more. Wind will be SW 10-15 in the morning, W 25 in the afternoon, and W 15-20 after midnight.

Snow continues on Thursday. The snow level will be 2000′ early, 4000′ in the afternoon, and 1500′ after midnight. About 0.6” WE is forecast during the day for 5-6” medium density, base-building snow. Overnight, we pick up another 0.3” WE for 3-4” lighter density snow. Wind: W 15-20 in the morning, W 20 in the afternoon, and NW 25-30 overnight. That NW flow could drive the snow accumulation up a bit thanks to orographic assistance.

As of this morning, Friday looks sunny early and high overcast in the afternoon. Light snowfall arrives after midnight. The free air freezing level (FAF) will be 1000-1500′ in the morning and 1500-2000′ in the afternoon. Just a trace of snow arrives between midnight and 4am Saturday. Wind: NW 25-35 early turns to W 20 midday and rises to WSW 25-40 overnight.

Saturday looks snowy and windy. The snow level will be 1000-1500′ all day. Models bring 0.5” to 1.0” WE for 6-12 inches of new snow. But wait… wind will be out of the NW at 25-35, which should drive up the snowfall amounts. We’ll have to wait until we’re closer to Saturday to really pin down the details. Lighter snowfall on Sunday gives way to clear sky in the evening. Another set of systems Monday into Wednesday brings another 1-2” WE for another foot or two of snow. After that: models are starting to hint at dry, colder weather, but there are also plenty of ensembles members that keep things cool and snowy. So we’ll leave it there for now. Looks like a great week on the slopes!  

Gorge Wind Forecast

Hi friends! Not much is happening for the next few days, but models have decided we might have some westerlies on Saturday and then again next Tuesday or Wednesday. That Tuesday-Wednesday period has quite a bit of support in the ensembles despite it being almost a week out. We’ll keep a close eye on that. After the 10th, models are leaning towards much, much colder weather, cold enough to knock everyone off the river and up to the ski slopes for a while.

For Wednesday, we’ll start with 35ish at Iwash (Rooster) and 15-20 at Stevenson. The wind turns calm late morning and switches to W 5-10 from Stevenson to Hood River in the afternoon. River flow yesterday was 97-150kcfs, river temp is 44F, and high temp forecast is 44F under partly cloudy sky. Thursday will be calm to start, E 10-15 in the usual spots midday, and calm to finish. High temp: 45F with rain near Stevenson all day and cloudy sky. Friday’s forecast has dropped to 13-16 (Stevenson to Rufus) and only in the morning. Afternoon wind drops to 10mph or less. High temp: 45F. I should note that there are still a few ensemble members calling for more wind. In an interesting twist, the latest GFS deterministic gives us 24-27, Stevenson to Arlington, on Saturday. We’ll keep watching that! As I said in the previous paragraph, there’s actually a lot of support for a stronger westerly day Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Fingers crossed for that one. Have a great day today!

 

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Hood River Weather Forecast

Clouds early add rain midday. Temps will be in the mid 30’s early and mid 40’s later. Light and variable wind. 47% chance of rainbows. Thursday will be cloudy with rain in the morning. Temps start in the upper 30’s and rise to the mid 40’s. Calm wind. 5% chance of rainbows. Friday will be partly cloudy. Temps start in the upper 30’s and rise to the mid 40’s. Light to moderate westerlies. 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.  

Local-ish Events

Please let me know of outdoor-related local-ish events. If you don’t tell me, I don’t know!

Registration is open for Gorge Ultimate winter league. Sign up here: https://gorge.ultimatecentral.com/e/winter-league-2024 – Teacup has an après ski fundraiser at the Ruins on January 27th. $25. Amayah’s Indian Cafe (Biggs) offers a free meal every first Thursday from 1-4pm.

Regular weekly events:. NK Studio’s by-donation Tuesday morning yoga class is back. Ferment’s Tuesday night 4-mile walk/run is at 6pm. There’s meditation with monks at 5:15pm (an hour) and 6:30pm (30 minutes plus a talk) at Yoga Samadhi in White Salmon. The Tri Club is done for the season. At 7:15am on Wednesdays, there’s a run from the White Salmon Bakery. At 7am on Friday morning, there’s a run from Pine Street Bakery. On Fridays at 2:30pm, there’s a free meditation and stretching class at Yoga Samadhi. On Saturday at 9am, there’s a by-donation outdoor group fitness on the 2rd floor deck about Ferment Brewing.  

Cycling

Regarding the trails in general: don’t ride in the mud. You’ll damage the trails. Don’t ride trails if it was below freezing the previous night and is above freezing when you want to ride. Ride gravel. Ride your trainer. Build trails. There are trail builders seeking extra hands on seven additional miles of trail on Whoopdee. Contact HRATS for more information. If you’re parking at Post Canyon, you will need a parking pass. Those can be purchased at many local shops or online.  

Sprinter Van of the Week!

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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.