Random Morning Thoughts
Oh. My. God. Thank you all for all the rainbow photos yesterday. You guys are so awesome. Every time my phone dinged me with a rainbow photo text, I smiled. My heart melted. And I got to see a rainbow. I hadn’t realized how much I missed rainbows until I got all those texts. And then I went windsurfing and made more rainbows in the spray. So, thanks for all the rainbows. And the love.
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Thank you to everyone for using this forecast. Does it save you time, gas money, or help you find more wind, powder, or just plain fun stuff to do? Please consider making a donation to keep it going! Use it here for free or make a donation and get on the mailing list for wind for the summer and Mt. Hood snow in the winter. It’s not $99/year. Not $50/year. No, just $12.34 or more gets you on the list for 12 months. Do it via PayPal/CC by clicking on my happy photo below. Don’t PayPal? You can send a check to Temira @ PO Box 841 in Hood River. Thank you for your support, and thank you for trusting my forecast. You guys mean the world to me.
Gorge Wind
Know what I was saying yesterday about the wind being hard to predict this time of year? 37 average at The Wall yesterday (and no, I wasn’t able to go) – wow. And swell at the Hatchery. Big starboard ramps. Gusty wind, but huge ramps. I only sailed for 40 minutes, and I’m sore. We definitely need it to be windy more often. Like every day.
Anyway, expect westerlies again today as high pressure builds off the coast. The 6am gradient was .07 (pdx-dls), giving us a morning prediction of 13-16, building to 23-26 by early afternoon, strongest and steadiest from Swell to Hood River first, and then filling in at Mosier and the Rowena stretch of river. Stevenson, under the clouds this morning, will catch up some this afternoon with 20-23.
High pressure builds inland tomorrow for easterlies at 23-26 at Rooster and 19-23 at Steven’s Locks, strongest, as (almost) always, mid to late morning and fading in the afternoon. Expect stronger east wind on Friday, at 26-30 at Rooster (maybe a touch more) and 24-27 at Steven’s Locks. At this point, it looks like we’re going to see light and variable wind on the weekend, but that could change, of course, long-range forecasts being what they are.
Out on the coast, expect some wind too (north/central/south). Today: N 5-10/20-25/30-35, W6@9. Tomorrow: 5-10/20-25/15-20, NW 4@9. Friday: light/10-15/light, W4@12.
| Your favorite beach | Dawn Patrol |
9am- 11:30a |
11:30a- 3pm |
3pm- dusk |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rooster’s Rocks | get your | naked on | before | frost comes |
|
| Steven’s Locks | 5-10 | 10-13 | 13-16 | 19-23 | |
| Hatchery/White Salmon Sandbar (minus a few for Hood River) | 13-16 | 21-24 | 23-26 | 21-24 | |
| Doug’s, Lyle, Rowena | 10-13 | 13-16 | 21-24 | 23-26 | |
| Rufus, etc. | 10-13 | 10-13 | 13-16 | 13-16 | |
| Roosevelt, etc. | 10-13 | 10-13 | 10-13 | 10-13 | |
| Temira’s sail: 35-40: 2.9 / 30-35: 3.2 / 26-30: 3.5 23-26: 4.0 / 20-23: 4.5 less than 20: something bigger! |
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| Tonia’s kite: 35-40: 4m / 30-35: 4-6m / 26-30: 5-7m 23-26: 7-9m / 20-23: 8-10 / 15-20: 10-12 / 10-15: 13-15. |
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Gorge Weather
It’s pitch black as I’m writing this, so I have to walk outside and look at the sky. Be right back. Good thing I went out there. It’s a beautiful morning with lots of stars above and clouds to the west. So, you can expect sunshine here in the Gorge today. Temps will be in the mid 50’s early and upper 60’s this afternoon. Tomorrow looks sunny with a chance of some inversion clouds early. Temps will be in the mid 40’s early and low 70’s in the afternoon. Friday looks just a little warmer than Thursday but essentially the same. At this point, Indian Summer looks to continue through the weekend and beyond, meaning there are no rainbows in the forecast unless you go windsurfing or kiting or drive far north where an atmospheric river is predicted to hit BC later in the week.
White Sprinter Van of the Day with RAINBOW!!!
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Road and Mountain Biking
I’m going to explore the route from Wyeth to Vancouver today. You, however, may want to ride dirt. I ran into Ranger Jimmy T, and he says the dirt is good on his trails. That’d be the 44 Road. I know he has a work party coming up soon. There’s a poster at Dog River with the date, but I’m spacing it right now. In other important bike news, Wildcraft is offering a mushroom hunting class. It’s not free, but it’s a good idea to have mushroom skills if you a) like wild mushrooms and b) ride a mountain bike. On to road biking news, it’s going to be a bit windy today, but the next two days will be spectacular with the east wind.
The Clymb: free membership. Cheap gear.
Temira approves. Click to join.
River Levels / Fish Counts/Cheezburger Update
The John Day Dam is reading 62kcfs. The Dalles Dam is putting out 74kcfs. There are two river-wide logs on the White Salmon: 1 just below Cave Rapid on the Middle and one below Cave Wave on the Lower. The White Salmon is at 1.6′, according to John L. I didn’t talk to Cheezburger yesterday, but I am going to call him today to talk about work. The fish counts were up this morning: Chinook, 6484. Coho, 4227. Steelhead, 1138. You can always check them yourself here if you like. The Columbia is 67 degrees.
Events – email me if I’ve missed any outdoor-related events
Today is Wednesday. Lots of the Wednesday activities are done. No more Post n’ Pinot (although you can still drink wine if you like), no more Shop Paddle, no more sailboat races, no more … well, whatever stuff usually happens on Wednesday during the summer.
The Columbia Gorge Running Club still has a track workout on Wednesday nights at 6pm in Stevenson. And there’s still ping pong at the Hood River Armory tonight at 6:30. More importantly, Langdon Cook, author of “The Mushroom Hunters” is speaking at Columbia Center for the Arts this evening at 7pm.
Coming up this weekend, it’s the annual Oak Street Pie Contest, brought to you by Shortt Supply. Bake a pie, enter the contest ($10), and you support Helping Hands, working with domestic violence victims here in the Gorge. Or just come eat pie. Saturday morning at Shortt Supply. Then on Sunday, dress up yourself and your kids as superheros for the Superhero run/walk benefiting CASA. The Dalles Discover Center, 9am. On Sunday evening, Dog River Coffee hosts the first ski movie of the season, a Powderwhores flick about folks chasing, what else, powder, even if they have to hike for it.
Have an awesome day today!
Temira
