Good morning!
This is turning into a weather forecast more than a wind forecast.
For example, it’s going to rain today, with over a foot of snow above 6000 feet. Combine that with strong winds, and you have a recipe for a real mess up on the Palmer Glacier. Don’t count on skiing the pow at Timberline today, but keep an eye on Sunday for a break in the weather with plenty of new snow.
Snow levels drop to 4500 feet or so after this system passes today, giving us 8-12”+ at T-line and Meadows on Friday. For what it’s worth, Julia Ruthford over at NOAA is calling for 2-3 feet Friday night into Saturday. I like that better. A few more inches on Sunday tops off the storm cycle, and with snow levels around 3000 feet, T-line, Skibowl and Meadows will all see new snow!
Wind… right… you want the wind forecast. It’s the coast for mega south winds today for speedsailing and the Gorge for gusty low-twenties westerlies tomorrow. Saturday looks cold, with continued gusty west winds of the miserably cold and wet variety.
In other exciting weather news, a monster swell from a monster storm system (950mb or so) hits the Oregon coast tomorrow. 28 foot waves at 16 seconds means 50 foot faces somewhere. If you have a death wish, feel free to try sailing the 20-25 knot coast southerlies at Nelscott on Friday. I, for one, will skip it.
Coming up this weekend is Portland Ski Fever, where you can torment your favorite Meadows employees (Paul Jones, Dave Tragethon, and me, among others) and buy cool stuff. You can also get your pass picture taken with a large purple monkey (just kidding about the monkey, but you can see his picture on my Facebook page).
I said goodbye to Post Canyon yesterday. I think the mud takes over from now on out. See you in the spring, Seven Streams. I’ll miss you!
See the rest of you on the mountain soon (hopefully!)