Thanks so much to Thomas, the newest member of our family, for the laughs this morning. No, Thomas, I cannot give you a pony. However, I can give you two delicious fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies for making me laugh before 8am. You can't have any more cookies, because the rest are going to a friend of mine who's camped on the cliff at San Carlos right now.
I hope everyone caught a few minutes on the water yesterday. Notice the marine clouds appear, like a magicians bunny, around 3pm? The dreaded upper level low actually helped us yesterday, sending a late (and unexpected by all) marine push into Portland. The dense air, filled with marshmallow (no, Meredith and Ron, not the cat) marine clouds, allowed Gorge winds to briefly touch the 20 mark. Yippee!
Look for a carbon copy of yesterday, today. Marine cloud coverage in the "slim to none" range starts the day, but Portland sits under the edge of a frontal band of clouds. Forecast temps for PDX are around 80, while temps in The Dalles will hit 90 in the early afternoon. This should be enough to give thermal winds in the 17-20 range. As the (dreaded) ULL crawls east later, we may see increasing marine push accompanied by an early evening bump into the 18-22 range. Your best bet is to head for The Hook, Mosier or Rowena/Doug's. Upper level flow is due south now (because of the ULL off the coast - winds swirl in a counter-clockwise direction around closed low pressure systems), sending Hatchery-area winds into gusty madness.
The (unfriendly) ULL continues its stealthy move east overnight, but stealth can't prevent marine clouds and cool air from betraying its movement. Portland only hits 70 tomorrow, while Arlington reaches for 85. In addition to this, high pressure waits in the wings behind the ULL. Winds tomorrow afternoon easily hit the upper twenties, possibly the low thirties (but I'm not putting money on 30+ until I see the models early tomorrow morning). There are no blowing dust warnings posted yet, however. =( As the low shifts east, upper level winds turn more westerly, a better setup for The Wall than we've seen in quite a while. I am crossing my fingers too (assuming you all are joining me).
Wednesday, finally, brings a typical Gorge setup (not typical, unfortunately, for summer 2007). The North Pacific High sets up camp near the Oregon Coast and a heat low moves in over Northern California. Look for a late start (no dawn patrol), as desert temps drop overnight (it's not summer anymore, kids). Winds will hit the 21-23 range, possibly better. With the heat low entrenched in Cali, Pistol River fires up to the 3.7 range, Florence goes 4.2, and Oceanside receives sailable wind as well. With a small west swell and a small south swell, coast conditions could be good fun!
At this point, it looks like the heat low may shift northward on Thursday, shutting everything down again. Everyone think happy thoughts about the North Pacific High (our best friend), and maybe we can stop this from happening.
Everyone have a great day on the water today, and start thinking about what to take for lunch at The Wall tomorrow!
Print | posted @ Monday, September 03, 2007 8:20 AM