I went up to Mt. Hood Meadows yesterday for a little telemark skiing, and when I got home, I started browsing weather models. The first site I went to, the Mt. Hood Forecast, said snow all the way through the weekend. I liked that forecast, but then I started looking for more details. That's when I started getting worried.
We've been sitting under a high pressure ridge for a few days while an upper level low rotates off the Northern California coast. That low, by the way, is the one that was supposed to drop a couple feet of snow on us this past week, and didn't . Instead, it dropped about 7 feet of snow in the Sierras.
It looks like this ULL will move back up the coast over the next couple days, sending some high clouds and eventually some precipitation our way. Now, here's the problem: it's warm here now, and snow levels are around 6500 feet. We need those snow levels to drop, and drop quickly, before that low hits Oregon.
At this point, it looks like we're going to see some rain on Saturday and Sunday in the mountains. Monday afternoon to evening looks very bad. I need all of you to do whatever superstitious thing you do to bring snow levels down. We're looking at over an inch of precipitation that could fall as rain on the hill if you don't do something. We will see snow after temps drop when the low passes, but I'd really rather see snow, snow and more snow.
Thank you for your help.
Now, in windsurfing and kiteboarding news.... Easterlies are light as of now, but they will build into tomorrow. By tomorrow morning, as the low pressure center moves up the coast, we'll see east winds in the 27-32 range at Stevenson and 30-35 range at Rooster Rock. Dress warmly if you're headed out. The water temp is below 40 degrees.
Now if we could only keep the air temp on Mt. Hood below 32 degrees...
Have a great day!
Print | posted @ Friday, February 20, 2009 5:47 AM