Avalanche forecast

Mt Hood

Northwest Avalanche Center
View on map

Avalanche danger

Wed
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
No rating
Open full map
Out of date — this forecast expired 9 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Up to 5 inches of additional rain on our lean, early-season snowpack will maintain dangerous avalanche conditions on steep, snow-covered slopes. Wet avalanches of all types and sagging cornices could shed without warning. Avoid travel on and limit your time spent under steep slopes, including upper canyon run-outs that connect to larger avalanche paths on the upper mountain. 

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1.5–2.5

    Several inches of rain will continue to percolate through the snowpack and maintain the threat of wet and shed-style avalanches above 6000 ft. Expect any combo of wet loose, wet slab, cornice shed, and even glide avalanches where smooth rock slabs exist under the lean, early-season snowpack. 

    It's hard to say exactly what this amount of rain will do to our more layered, upper elevation snowpack, especially given the early-season conditions and the lack of recent observations. With this amount of uncertainty ( and lack of visibility), consider keeping your terrain selction simple and avoid travel on steep, snow-covered slopes and below the run-out of large avalanche paths, including canyon bottoms that very large avalanches snake through every season during wet events like this. It's not shaping up to be a nice day for mountain travel, so maybe just consider doing other forms of recreation while this storm runs its course. 

    Additional Discussion: Snow levels will lower slightly overnight, which may allow precipitation to transition to wet snow at upper elevations for a short period of time during the early morning hours. If you brave the harsh conditions and find yourself at these higher elevations, keep dry-snow avalanche problems in mind if you find over a few inches of new snow. You would most likely find issues in steep, wind-loaded alpine terrain. 

    (12/7/2023)

    An example of wet loose avalanches during the early season. These wet avalanches could come in a range of shapes or sizes, but the consequences will likely be more predictable and dire with all the early season hazards that currently lurk. 

    Photo: Willie Webster

Avalanche Discussion

This is shaping up to be a potent storm for Mt Hood and the southern Washington volcanoes. We’ll be looking at upwards of another 5 inches of rain by the end of Tuesday, and that won’t even be the end as another AR follows. Unfortunately, this will likely have a devastating impact on our already lean early-season snowpack, especially at our middle and lower elevations. 

In general, we have a much more robust snowpack above 6500 ft. These are the elevations driving the considerable avalanche danger. We suspect most wet loose avalanches have run their course with today's rain, but we can’t ignore the incoming precipitation forecast. This heavy rainfall will maintain a very wet, sloppy snowpack that could easily slide downhill with a trigger or even naturally.  This upper elevation snowpack will need time to adjust to all this rain, so practice patience, and please do your snow dances - we need it! 

With the warm start to the 25-26 winter season, we have less snowpack information than usual to start daily forecast operations. For zones and elevation bands with less snow than needed for avalanche hazard, we will issue a forecast with No Rating. Anticipated avalanche and weather conditions will still be updated daily. NWAC will issue an avalanche danger rating for a zone when enough snow to produce avalanches has accumulated at middle and upper elevations.

The season is young, the snowpack is shallow,  and observations are limited. You can help us out by submitting a public observation here. 

Regions covered