Presidential Range

You could trigger an avalanche on steep east and south-facing slopes above 3000 ft today. Look out for smooth, pillowy, drifted snow that may slide on the hard surface below. Travel on firm snow surfaces to reduce your chance of triggering an avalanche today.

Springtime hazards like open holes and undermined snow still exist and may be hidden just beneath the new snow. Evaluate your travel routes carefully and use mountaineering skills and tools to travel on the firm, refrozen snowpack and avoid a long sliding fall. 

The final daily avalanche forecast will be today, Wednesday, April 8th. We will continue providing up-to-date snowpack information with a General Avalanche Information bulletin for the remainder of the season.

The past few days brought the return of winter-like weather to middle and upper elevations across the Presidential Range. However, today with rising temperatures, be prepared to make assessments throughout the day.

Starting the day, you should think about cold snow and the potential for newly formed wind slabs. The shift to spring melts the alpine back down to rocks and brush, which limits some of the wind loading potential of mid-elevation terrain. This limits the size of potential slabs, and it is possible that you may encounter an even blanket of new snow in some wind-protected terrain features.

In the afternoon, temperatures at mid-elevations are forecast to rise above freezing, with decreasing winds, and clear and sunny skies. Warming temperatures and solar gain may warm and wet surface snow. If earlier you encounter an even blanket of unconsolidated snow, you should expect the potential for small wet loose avalanches to occur naturally on steep slopes. It also may be possible for you to trigger them under your feet. Do not underestimate these, as they can entrain large amounts of snow, the debris is dense and heavy, and snow may easily slide on the slick, old snow surface. These are most likely to occur on steep slopes underneath rocks. They will be identifiable with wetting, mushy snow and fan-shaped point releases.

Springtime hazards should not be out of mind today. Undermined snow, open holes and glide cracks may be hidden under the new snow, but there is likely not enough snow to bury these problems. Underneath the new snow is a hard, slick old snow surface. Bring gear and the skills to stay on your feet, as you should not count on self-arresting to stop a slide.

This is the last 5-scale forecast for the season. Moving forward, a General Bulletin will be updated on Mondays and Thursdays, and when weather events increase the avalanche hazard outside of those days. MWAC’s 2026 Spring Fundraiser is live. The snow may be melting on Mount Washington, but the work of keeping people informed, prepared, and safer in the mountains continues year-round. Your support helps make that work possible for next season and beyond.

This Friday at 7:30 p.m., Ledge Brewing in Intervale hosts the premiere of The Proving Ground, a short film that confronts one of the most serious hazards on Mount Washington: the long sliding fall. We hope to see you there.

OBSERVATIONS: Please consider submitting an observation on our website or in the new Avy phone app of what you are seeing in your travels. Submitting an observation hones your skills, informs other users, and improves our forecasts.