Temira's Gorge Forecast

In a vicious temper tantrum, Mother Nature hurled lightning bolts at the Mount Hood region last night. Father rain stepped in, though, with a deluge of water for the higher-elevation mountain biking and hiking trails. Chanterelles and boletes should be popping up in the forests soon!

The unstable air accompanying the thunderstorms is moving east as you read this (assuming it's still Friday morning), increasing the potential for good wind today. However, it's a good idea to check the radar picture (http://www.iwindsurf.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=216&regionProductID=16&timeoffset=0) before you head out. Southerly flow may create problematic thunderheads in the desert today. Just stay west of the cumulonimbus and you'll be ok (for wind - lightning can strike many miles from thunderclouds and carbon fiber conducts electricity). Having said that, we'll be sailing today.

Patchy marine clouds moved up the Columbia this morning (but not the solid marine mass we were hoping for), and frontal clouds are brushing Portland already. Gradients build as the back edge of the front (colder air) moves east, creating a thermal difference between Cascadia and the Eastern Gorge. We're already looking at .10, .05 and .20, and we'll see better readings as the day goes on. Given the unstable air east, I'm thinking the desert may not see as much heat as we were hoping for yesterday. Therefore, I'm going to say 23-27 at Doug's, and the same at Arlington. The Wall, as I mentioned yesterday, will suffer under southerly upper level flow.

Tomorrow looks lighter, as less marine air makes its way up the valleys. Winds should remain sailable, though, in the 18-22 range. Ditto on Sunday.

At this point, and please don't get your blood pressure up, Monday looks quite nice. A strong ULL sends 60 degree air into Portland, while Arlington remains in the 90's. If, and this is a long way out to be predicting, if this system doesn't send clouds all the way to the desert, we're looking at excellent Arlington/Threemile conditions (no, Laura, don't jump on the plane and come back early, yet)

I'm testing out a pressure report theory from Victor the Inflictor, and will let you know the results tomorrow.

Have an awesome day on the water!