Today’s most notable display of nature is something you can’t see at all: the wind.
Face east today, and you may get a blast of cold air — particularly if you’re in East Portland or the West Hills.
The phenomenon is caused by air spilling from high pressure points to low, from over the Cascades, into the Willamette Valley. It’s actually a common weather pattern around here, in all seasons. The easterly winds are perhaps most alarming during fire season. Notably, they helped spread the blaze from 2017’s Eagle Creek Fire in the Gorge and shoot the smoke into Portland.
Today there’s no threat of fire, but there'll be some notable blasts of air. Along the highway in the Gorge, gusts may reach 60 miles per hour.
The view of Crown Point in the Columbia River Gorge. (Ian Sane/Creative Commons)
At Crown Point, a peak in the Gorge, gusts may hit 90 to 100 miles per hour.
One word of advice from meteorologists: if you’re going looking for the wind, park your car facing into the gale. “Those 90, 100 mile per hour gusts — they can definitely bend doors back if you open 'em up, because they act like sails,” says David Bishop, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “It's one of those things that you don't really think about until somebody tells you about it and you're like, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’”
