Avalanche forecast

Mt Hood

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Mon
Alpine
4 · High
Treeline
4 · High
Below
4 · High
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Highlights

Rising freezing levels and rain on a dry, deep snowpack will create very dangerous avalanche conditions on Sunday. These avalanches will range in size and shape, but could easily be large enough to ruin your day. Don’t test your luck, just simply avoid all areas where avalanches can start, run, or stop, which include canyon run-outs. 

Avalanche problems

  • Wet Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Very Likely
    Size
    2–3.5

    We have a lot of recent snow that is about to get wet. Increasing rain levels will weaken slabs as the day progresses. At the start of the day, dry snow problems like wind and storm slabs may exist at upper elevations, but these should be replaced by wet snow avalanche concerns as rain levels creep higher and higher into the alpine.  

    Whether these avalanches fail in dry or wet snow, expect them to be incredibly destructive and easily capable of killing you. In the past few days, we have seen numerous large to very large avalanches failing across all elevations, so this pattern may continue as rain works its way into our dry snowpack.   Expect to see some combination of wet slab, glide, loose wet, and cornice fall avalanches by the end of the weekend. 

    In typical Mt Hood fashion, some avalanches could fail at upper elevations and run far into lower-elevation canyon terrain. It won’t be the day to go have a picnic or linger in canyon runouts such as Heather Canyon, White River, Newton, and others.

    Wet, soggy snow will likely undermine most attempts at enjoyable recreation in low-angle terrain. If you decide to brave the rain and glop, stick to sheltered, low-angle terrain, far from any steep slopes. 

    (3/22/2025)

    A widely propagating avalanche on a SE aspect @ 7200 ft on the north side. This likely ran on 3/21. 

    We have seen numerous surprising avalanches in the past days. Expect to see more as rain begins to fall. 

    HS-N-R3-D2.5-U

    Photo: Joe Dellaporta

Avalanche Discussion

We’re about to turn up the spice on Sunday. While precipitation amounts are not impressive by atmospheric river standards, the recent snowfall and the amount of recent avalanche activity are certainly notable as we head into a warm, wet pattern. We have a lot of dry snow, even at lower elevations, that is about to get wet and weak on Sunday. It may not take much rain or warming for us to see uniquely dangerous avalanche conditions.

So far this past week we have exceeded 70 inches of new snow ( > 7 in SWE) at the weather stations across the zone. As you’d expect, the reported avalanches grew larger as the week progressed. As of Saturday morning, avalanche professionals across the zone reported numerous natural, D2-D3 avalanches that likely failed during the minor warm-up on March 21st. We’re unsure what these avalanches failed on, but some propagated far and ran a good distance. Additionally, the Mt Hood Meadows Pro Patrol reported triggering several large avalanches at all elevations during avalanche reduction work. The largest avalanches, with crown depths ranging from 3-5 ft, occurred in wind-loaded terrain. 

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