Pulling into Cheap Beach at 2:30 yesterday, I had to laugh. No crowds! Everyone is tired! It's always great to get a long stretch of wind, thinning the crowds. If that theory holds, there won't be anyone on the water come Friday (except early-arriving weekend warriors, that is!). Yes, that's right. Onshore flow continues through the week.
Yesterday's afternoon blast threw me off, as you all know. I'm not sure what happened to give us overpowered 3.7 wind, but I have a couple of theories. 1) a front that was only supposed to brush the coast made it further inland, keeping Portland in clouds. 2) unexpected thunderstorm development created a localized area of low pressure, increasing gradients between Stevenson and HR. Other thoughts are appreciated, of course, reasonable or unreasonable. If you make me laugh, you might just get cookies.
Anyway...
During the dark hours, marine clouds crawled too far for Hatchery dawn patrol today. Don't worry, though. With a .12 gradient (plus .05/.22 out east), Gorge westerlies return to pound your body more today. Drugstores owners were on the phone all weekend, calling for ibuprofen reinforcements! Depending on what the marine layer does in the next few hours, best winds may stay at Doug's/Rowena today. In addition, the broad trough of low pressure hanging over western WA/OR keeps upper flow southerly, like yesterday, making the corridor a bit on the gusty side (remember that the Hook is favored on days like this, as well as Mosier, Avery and Celilo). But does that really matter when there's great swell at Swell (hence the name) despite the gusty winds? This trough also buries Portland in clouds for most of the day, and keeps high temps in the low 70's. That we like. Winds climb to the 23-27range before noon, hanging there all day. If the marine deck stays solid and thunderstorms develop east of you, watch for a repeat of yesterday! (Wow... that was a bit scattered. Apologies. Just go sailing.)
Tomorrow looks quite interesting on the MM5 model. NOAA's forecast discussion suggests weather identical to today. However, a front approaching the Oregon coast Tuesday night may concoct deeper clouds tomorrow morning. So... look for best winds to shift to Doug's/Rowena and further east, possibly even making it to Arlington (if you haven't guessed yet, that's my favorite spot). I'll call dawn patrol at Doug's, but that's not really dawn patrol, is it? 23-27 again.
Wednesday morning brings a frontal passage. I'm hoping the front doesn't pass overnight, or we'll just hear the best winds through the curtain of our dreams. I'm hoping the front stalls over Portland, keeping those city dwellers under umbrellas and giving us a nuker of a day. You should hope for the same (but far be it for me to tell you what to think) Even if that doesn't happen, we'll see more wind in the 22-25+ range. (You know how I like to under-forecast when I'm not sure!) I won't promise anything yet, but the potential is there for a great day. Check in tomorrow for more information!
Okay. I have a lot of people who want their houses cleaned, so I've got to go. I'd prefer to turn this into a Garcia-Marquez type novella, but I just don't have the time today.
Have a fantastic day on the water. I'll see you out there at some point, as it's going to blow hard enough for the only board I have left: 66 liters and delaminated.
Print | posted @ Monday, August 06, 2007 8:10 AM