There’s no snow in the Mt. Hood snow forecast for the near future, but there’s a lot of sunshine. With the sun angle at a mid-winter low, the snowpack should stay in packed powder or hardpack form, rather than transitioning to some form of granular snow. In other words, the riding should stay good through this period of high pressure. Continued after the chart.
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Mt. Hood Snow Forecast, continued…
Expect sunshine on the hill today. The free air freezing level will be around 500′ all day. Temps at 5000′ will be in the teens early and low 20’s this afternoon. NE wind at 15-20 all day long.
Tomorrow looks clear and sunny with the free air freezing level at the surface or maybe 500′ max. Temps at 5000′ will be in the low 20’s early and the upper 20’s to low 30’s in the afternoon. NE wind at 15-20 in the morning transitions to E wind at 25 in the afternoon.
Friday looks sunny and warmer on the mountain if the sounding model is correct. The deep cold pool may have something else to say about the temps, but we may have to wait until Friday to see how that shakes out. Anyway, the free air freezing level will be at the surface with 5000′ temps hovering right around freezing. Wind could be a problem for lifts on Friday, especially at Timberline where the easterlies have a bigger impact; the models are suggesting E 25-30 all day Friday.
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Coming up on the weekend, equal amounts of sunshine, lesser amounts of east wind, and continue right-around-freezing temps. Next chance of precip is a slight chance late Tuesday or Wednesday, but it’s really not looking like much. Have the typical effects of El Nino finally arrived? Cliff Mass seems to think so. I prefer to take a more conservative stance of waiting and watching, but this massive high pressure system over us right now, combined with a rex block pattern, isn’t a great sign for any new snowfall any time soon. So, get the good skiing while you can!
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Gorge Wind Forecast
The easterlies are starting to pick up in the western Gorge, with Rooster reporting E 25 and Steven’s Locks reporting E 15 at the early hour of 6:16am. We’ll see the easterlies pick up to 40mph at Rooster later and 30-35 at Steven’s Locks. Starting tomorrow and continuing through next Tuesday, we’ll see east wind at 40-50+ every single day at Rooster and 30-40+ every single day at Steven’s Locks.
Random Morning Thoughts
As many of you have heard by now, our tight-knit community is reeling from the murder-suicide of two of our own. When these things happen elsewhere, we read the story, shake our heads, and talk about what an awful thing the perpetrator has done. Knowing the people involved changes the story, and allows us to connect with each person who is impacted by the tragedy.
There is no way for us to know what was going on in our friend’s mind when he killed his wife and then took his own life. There is one thing we can guess: he was in an incredible amount of emotional pain. Rather than seeking out help with his pain, he channeled the depth of his despair to kill his wife and then himself. His children, his friends, and his community now have to bear the terrible burden of trying to understand how someone they loved so deeply could do something so awful.
Emotional pain, much like intense physical pain, changes who we are. It takes away our will to live. It takes away our compassion for others. It makes us do things that make no sense to outsiders. Murder-suicide is the most tragic expression of unmanageable emotional pain.
As you reflect on what has happened here, as you read the news, I encourage you to have compassion for the friends, family, “victim”, and also for the “perpetrator”. What he did is tragic. The pain that moved him to do this is heartbreaking – try and feel it, and you will know the truth of that. This man was a decent human being who suffered incredibly and chose to inflict his pain on those around him. May he and his wife rest in peace, and may everyone affected by this tragedy eventually find some peace as well. Be good to each other, and reach out to those around you who are in pain. We’re all deserving of love, compassion and understanding, even those of us who do awful things.
Disclaimer required by my grad school program: I am not your therapist. I am your weather forecaster. Take everything I say with a grain of salt, and consult with your actual therapist about your mental health issues.
Gorge Weather Forecast
I just did my look outside thing, and there’s Nothing to see this morning. NWS seems to think the Nothing is sticking around for several days, and that’s my sense too. If you want sunshine, you’ll find it on the mountain and in the western Gorge and eastern reaches of Portland. On a positive twist, the Nothing is keeping us warmer than expected at night, acting like an insulating blanket. A wet, soggy, damp blanket, but a blanket nonetheless. You can expect temps in the low to mid 30’s all day today with Nothing above. Increasing east wind. No rainbows.
Tomorrow also looks like Nothing weather. Temps will be in the upper 20’s early and the low 30’s later. Even more east wind. No rainbows. Friday starts with the Nothing and may actually clear off a bit if the models are correct. If that’s the case, we’ll see temps in the low 20’s early and the upper 20’s in the afternoon. That weather will continue through Monday, at least, with nuking east wind in the western Gorge.
White Sprinter Van of the Day
Road and Mountain Biking
I went for a hike on the Herman Creek Trail yesterday, and wandered up to the Gorge 400 and also the PCT to take a look. There’s 2-3” of snow on the upper part of the 400 – it may or may not be rideable. The PCT is almost worthy of snowshoes – there’s 4-6” of snow at the junction between the PCT and Herman Creek. I recommend going for a hike, because these trails aren’t often snowy. In actual bike news, good luck finding something rideable – perhaps the Klickitat trail or the Deschutes trail?
Simcoe Accounting
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Upcoming Events
There’s community meditation this morning at 8:15am at Flow Yoga. There’s a by-donation Hatha yoga class in Odell at the HeartGate at 7:30am today. There’s ping pong at the Hood River Armory at 5pm. Coming up tomorrow, who really knows what’s on or off – it’s a holiday. In theory, at 6:30pm, there’s yoga at Samadhi, Tai Chi at Our Savior Church in Bingen, and Zumba at the Parkdale Community Center.
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
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