Avalanche forecast

Mt Hood

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Sat
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

You’ll likely have to navigate around a fresh batch of shallow wind slabs at mid and upper elevations on Friday. Look for pillow-like slabs or fresh cornices to help you identify slopes of concern. As skies clear, expect small wet avalanches to soon follow on steep sunny slopes.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2

    Additional snowfall and gusty SW winds could result in a fresh crop of Wind Slabs for you to manage on Friday. These won’t be large, but could be consequential in the wrong terrain.  The older wind slabs that formed on 2/7 show signs of healing and are becoming more stubborn to trigger, but worth keeping in mind if you find yourself traveling above treeline. 

    You’ll find these slabs lurking in all the usual spots, but specifically under cornices, on the lee-side of canyons and ridges, and on convex rolls in the alpine.  As winds taper through the day, it may be hard to visually identify blowing snow and chances are the wind slabs will have already formed. So it will be up to you to look for these pillow-like slabs and use ridges or more sheltered terrain to reduce your exposure to this problem. 

    (12/3/2022)

    Shooting cracks like this are in-your-face indicators pointing at unstable snow. Move to lower angled and more sheltered slopes  if you see signs like this.  

    Photo: Dallas Glass

  • Loose Wet

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

    Once the sun makes an appearance, snow surfaces could get moist and weak on SW-S-SE facing slopes.  Look for pinwheels or rollerballs initiating on sunny slopes as the day progresses. These are often precursors of wet loose avalanches and should be signs for you to move to more shaded and colder aspects. These wet loose slides will likely be small, but could entrain a bit of snow at mid elevations since this is where the most dry snow currently exists. 

    (11/24/2022)

    Rollerballs like this are often indicators that the snow surface is becoming weak and wet loose avalanches may soon follow.  

    Photo: Robert Hahn

Avalanche Discussion

The storm cycle on 2/7-2/8 ended up bringing up to 10 inches of new snow on a slight cooling trend to the Mt Hood zone. This resulted in a right-side-up snow structure and good riding conditions on more sheltered slopes.  In more exposed alpine areas, observers have been reporting chalky snow and stubborn wind slabs. 

Thursday brought warm temperatures and increasing wind speeds at upper elevations. Observers reported great ski quality, wet snow on solar slopes, and even a few small wet loose avalanches on SW aspects at 5900 ft near Heather Canyon ( observation here). 

Regions covered