Avalanche forecast

Mt Hood

Northwest Avalanche Center
View on map

Avalanche danger

Sun
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
Open full map
Out of date — this forecast expired 8 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Keep wet snow instabilities on your radar until you reach the snow line. Above the snow line, triggering small pockets of wind-drifted snow will be possible on the leeward sides of ridges, canyons, or in steep rocky terrain. Fluctuating temperatures and snow levels may make for challenging travel on Saturday. 

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

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

    Below and near the snowline, you’ll likely need to manage wet avalanche hazards in steep and unsupported terrain. These likely won’t be big or easy to trigger, but they could be consequential with our lean snowpack that continues to plague our terrain. Move to less steep terrain if you’re sinking past your boot tops in wet, mushy snow or if you notice rollerballs and small wet slides fanning out below your feet or machine. 

    (1/2/2026)

    Small rollerballs show the snow surfaces was a little wet and sticky at Mt. Rainier National Park. 

    Photo: Dallas Glass

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Somewhere above 7000 ft, you’ll likely need to start thinking about newly forming wind slabs. We won’t get much more than a .25" of precipitation on Friday night, so slabs will likely be small and isolated, but they could be easy to trigger since they may form over a crust that formed on New Year's. 

    Look for blowing snow and freshly forming drifts along the leeward sides of canyons and ridges as clues of nearby slabs. If you feel the surface snow getting stiffer, it's time to stick to gentler slopes. Cracks shooting out from your skis or feet are an obvious sign that you've found a wind slab.

    (3/5/2025)

    You can easily probe with your pole to feel for wind-stiffened slabs.

    Photo: Joe Dellaporta

Avalanche Discussion

We’ve been in a sloppy, wet pattern here on Mt. Hood. Unfortunately, our snowpack is melting back as rain continues to fall, complicating access and fun recreation. Visibility was also poor on Friday, which creates some uncertainty at upper elevations. Based on temperature data and webcam imagery, we suspect rain fell to approximately 8000 ft on Friday. You may start climbing into dry snow as you move into upper elevations or on the upper mountain. If you do, expect slabs to be larger and more widespread at these highest elevations.

Be ready for variable travel on Saturday. You’ll likely find anything from wet, sticky surfaces to some new snow in the alpine and scoured, icy areas in exposed terrain. No matter the elevation, you’ll still find plenty of early-season hazards as a common theme. Keep these hazards in mind as you select terrain. Over the years, uncontrolled sliding falls and small avalanches have proven dangerous when conditions are so thin. 

You can help us out by submitting an observation here. 

Regions covered