Avalanche forecast

Mt Hood

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Sat
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
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Out of date — this forecast expired 2 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Non-avalanche hazards remain your greatest concern with a mix of bulletproof, edgeable, and breakable crusts. Consider the tools at your disposal and your ability to arrest a fall before crossing any steeper slopes. Steer around slopes 35 degrees or steeper once crusts break down and you can trigger a generally small wet avalanche.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–1.5

    Frozen crusts should limit avalanche concern to start the day. But Friday will be downright balmy with some solar energy coming through the clouds. In wind-sheltered areas, we suspect that breakable crusts will turn snow surfaces to mush on some slopes. The softening should occur on SE, then S, and finally SW aspects.  Once this occurs on a given slope, you could trigger a generally small wet loose avalanche where the slope exceeds 35 degrees and where your boots sink into the snow 6" or more. In areas where the snow remains more supportable and fully drained, avalanche concerns may be limited. Wet avalanches are expected to be mostly human-triggered on steep slopes, but could also be triggered by the failure of a sagging cornice, particularly at middle elevations. Keep terrain traps in mind on the slopes below, as these will increase the consequences on your slope. At upper elevations, we expect only isolated areas where crusts soften between 6,500 and 7,500 ft.

    Example: wet loose avalanche within saturated snow.

    Photo: Dominik Graeff

Avalanche Discussion

Friday is 2.5 days out from a noteworthy storm and avalanche cycle. Mt Hood picked up around 2" of liquid water at the tail end of a multi-day storm cycle that delivered 6-12" of snow each day for the 4 days before the rain event. 3 ft of dry snow sat above the 12/7 crust and this snow has now been saturated and homogenized. We have reports of a widespread avalanche cycle that occurred Tuesday and Tuesday night: D1-2 size range, along with multiple avalanches in the size 2.5 to size 3+ range. NWAC forecasters described seeing avalanche paths run in locations where they hadn't seen them previously. One wet slab was noted on a slope less than 35 degrees. This avalanche cycle is behind us, but serves as a reminder of the intense changes that have taken place within the snowpack in the past 5 days. You can see photos from some of this activity in the gallery.

Since the storm, travel conditions have unanimously been described with sharp adjectives such as "heinous" and "treacherous. The most hazardous conditions involve bulletproof ice found above 8000 ft on the S side of Mt Hood and down to 6800 ft on the more rain-shadowed Cooper Spur side! Skating rink obs here.  Make sure you have sharps and know how to use them if you find yourself on slick ice. The consequences of a long fall will be serious once again on Friday. 

On Thursday, NWAC forecasters traveled up the south side of Mt Hood and found crusts breaking down under partially clearing skies up to around 7000 ft or so. This is likely to happen with similar, and perhaps slightly warmer, weather conditions expected on Friday. Winds were ripping at upper elevations, keeping snow surfaces cold and icy.

Keep in mind that the rain event likely exposed creeks and early-season obstacles at lower elevations and near ridgelines that were previously caked in snow. 

Regions covered