I’m looking out my window at the river right now, and there are big whitecaps rolling through the gaps in the trees. I assume that means it’s windy, rather than that someone put in a wave machine at Wells Island. Our 6am gradients were .11 (pdx-dls) and .02 (dls-psc) with the water at 58 degrees and river flow at The Dalles at 221kcfs. 3166 Chinook made it past Bonneville yesterday, and so did 4 gremlins. Today’s weather setup includes an upper level low approaching Vancouver Island and a cold front moving onshore in Oregon during mid-afternoon. These dynamics will impact wind quality and reliability today. That said, they’ll also jack up the gradients in the afternoon, so it will be windy. Somewhere. Continued after the chart…
| Your favorite beach | Dawn Patrol |
9am- 11:30a |
11:30a- 3pm |
3pm- dusk |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rooster Rock | Erase | your | tan | lines. | |
| Steven’s Locks | 0-5 | 5-10 | 5-10 | 10-13 | |
| Hatchery/White Salmon Sandbar (minus a few for Hood River) | 10-13 | 10-13 | 10-13 | 10-13 | |
| Doug’s, Lyle, Rowena | 5-10 | 5-10 | 5-10 | 5-10 | |
| Rufus, etc. | 5-10 | 5-10 | 5-10 | 5-10 | |
| Roosevelt, etc. | 5-10 | 5-10 | 5-10 | 5-10 | |
|
|||||
Gorge wind forecast, continued…
You can expect 22-25 for the early morning session from Viento to Mosier with 10-13 everywhere else. By late morning, we should have 25-29 from Stevenson to The Dalles. Come early afternoon, we’re looking at 28-32 from Stevenson to Maryhill (well, maybe 25-29 at Stevenson), with the exception of the Swell to Hood River section, which will likely drop down to gusty 21-24. Arlington and Roosevelt will join in the fun with 25-29 (real speed, not sensor speed) after 2pm. If I had to make a call today for strongest, steadiest wind, I’d go with Swell early this morning and Doug’s or Rowena early this afternoon.
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See below for details.
The upper level low I mentioned moves right on top of the Northwest on Thursday, or at least right over the western half of the Northwest. That’s going to inundate Cascadia with clouds and showers and (hopefully) leave the desert in the sunshine. I think we’ll see gusty 24-28 east of The Dalles all day with gusty 13-16 from Hood River to The Dalles. Stevenson will probably see 10-13 on Thursday.
The upper level low regresses offshore a bit on Friday, leaving us with almost no cross-Cascade gradient. It looks like we’ll see W 5-10 in the morning and W 10-13 in the afternoon. The long range, totally unreliable, please don’t plan your life around this forecast says 25-29 east of Hood River on Saturday and 23-26 east of Hood River on Sunday with clouds and rainbows in the western Gorge both days.
The North Sports Yard Sale, May 21st
On May 21st, from 9 am to 3 pm North Sports in White Salmon, WA is having a blowout yard sale of the coolest water sports equipment on the market. Inflatable kayaks, inflatable SUP boards, paddles, and MORE. All items are used or samples. No kites, sorry! You will not be able to beat these prices! Everything must go! If you are an outdoor water enthusiast and want the best value, come to North Sports, located at #1 North Shore Drive SE, in White Salmon, on May 21st from 9 am to 3 pm. Get here, then get on the water.
Jones, Sauvie’s, Coast Beta Test Forecast
Jones today: 13-16. Jones Thursday: 10-13. Jones Friday: light. Sauvie’s today: 10-13. Sauvie’s Thursday: no. Sauvie’s Friday: no. Coast (north/central/south). Today: 10-15/10-15/25-30, NW swell 6′ at 14 seconds. Thursday: W5-10/W5-10/N15-20, W 8′ @ 12. Friday: south wind everywhere, W 8′ @ 10.
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Mt. Hood Snow Forecast
Today looks warm and sunny on Mt. Hood. Thursday looks cold and snowy, with the snow level at 4000′ in the morning and 5000′ in the afternoon. NW wind at 30 early and 20 in the afternoon. 3-5” of new snow at 5000′. A couple more inches of snow could fall by Friday morning if we’re really lucky. Friday looks cloudy with the snow level at 4500′ early and 6500′ in the afternoon and light and variable wind.
Random Morning Thoughts
I was thinking yesterday about how we, especially those of us in these extreme sporty communities, tend to push ourselves past our comfort zones. That can be awesome when we’re trying to get faster, go bigger, or grow, but sometimes we go too far without realizing it. We get going too fast downhill on a bike. We hammer uphill and suddenly realize we have to stop. We have a few drinks and then realize we’re more intoxicated than we wanted to be. We start exploring our minds and suddenly realize we’ve tipped into emotional crisis land.
This comes, I suspect, from a disconnect between our bodies and our minds. We get stuck thinking in our heads, and don’t pay attention to the signals coming in from below our necks. We ignore the flashing “danger” signs (queasiness, increased heartbeat, muscle tension, etc.), and then we suddenly find ourselves in a form of collapse or an out-of-control space.
For this reason, and many others, it’s a good idea to learn to reconnect with your body’s innate warning system. It developed to protect you from saber-toothed tigers and woolly mammoths, and it can serve to protect you from incoming wind gusts, ball bearing dirt, your competetive spirit, and the temptation of mind-altering substances.
How do you reconnect with this primitive, inbuilt warning system? You can spend some time getting to know your body. Close your eyes. Starting at your feet or your head, slowly scan up or down. As you do this, notice the external and internal sensations from each section of your body. Go as slow as you need to. This isn’t a Strava segment, and you aren’t going to get a prize for being the first one done. As a matter of fact, the lanterne rouge winner is likely the winner in this event. Play with it. There’s cool stuff in there. And you might just find yourself more in control of all sorts of domains of your life. Have an awesome day, awesome human.
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
What a beautiful morning it is out there! Expect sunshine this morning and clouds this afternoon with a very, very, very slight chance of sprinkles tonight. Temps will be in the low 60’s early and the low 70’s in the afternoon. Strong west wind. No rainbows. Thursday looks partly to mostly cloudy with a slight chance of sprinkles. Temps will be in the upper 40’s early and the low 60’s (break out the down jackets, yo) in the afternoon. Moderate westerlies. 53% chance of rainbows. Friday looks cloudy all day with a chance of thunder in the afternoon and a few scattered sprinkles. Temps will be in the mid 40’s early and the mid 60’s in the afternoon. Light wind. 3% chance of rainbows. The weekend looks rainbow sprinkly.
For weather specifically directed at travel through the Gorge, please visit Temira’s Awesome Travel Advisory Service on Facebook.
White Sprinter Van of the Day
Road and Mountain Biking
I’m going to keep telling you this, because I know you want to make trails better: Our local trails organization has agreed to provide the volunteers for the Cascadia Cup next weekend, and in exchange, the race organizers are offering up $8000 for our trails. So, we need volunteers! Sign up here, now. Looking to ride? Get the complete list of open trails here.
In other news, someone emailed me yesterday that Three Corner Rock, reportedly logged and done, is not logged and done, and is supposedly open. So there. See, that’s what I get for listening to what people tell me. Post Canyon, in case you were wondering, was still perfectly awesome yesterday.
Upcoming Events
Today’s events include yoga at the Heartgate Sanctuary at 8:30, ping pong at the Hood River Armory at 5, and the women’s Post n’ Pinot mountain bike ride at Dirty Fingers at 5:30. Tomorrow’s regularly schedule Post n’ Pint ride will be a shuttle to preview this weekend’s Cascadia Dirt Cup Enduro course. Give Dirty Fingers a call if you’re interested in getting in on that shuttle. Starting tomorrow, there will be four days of free demos of Devinci mountain bikes at Dirty Fingers.
Looking ahead to the weekend, the Cascadia Dirt Cup Enduro race takes over parts of Post Canyon both Saturday and Sunday. Along with that race, there are free Devinci mountain bike demos Thursday through Sunday and a Superhero costume party at Dirty Fingers on Saturday night. North Sports has a huge watersports yard sale on Saturday (see above for details) The Dog River Super D takes over the Dog River trail off highway 35 on Sunday, with racers likely to be doing practice laps on Saturday. Cooper Spur was planning a cross country mountain bike race this weekend, but at some point they canceled it. Good thing, because that would be a lot of local bike races in one weekend!
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
The Clymb: free membership.
Cheap gear.
Temira approves. Click to join.
