Avalanche forecast

Mt Hood

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Sun
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

If crusts form overnight, expect slick moring travel conditions where a fall would be consequential on a steep slope. If crusts do not form overnight, use the depth of your boot penetration to gauge the potential for small avalanches. If you sink in past your ankle, small natural or human-triggered wet avalanches become a risk on steep slopes. 

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    1

    Very mild temperatures and thicker clouds may conspire to form a poor overnight refreeze; mild temperatures or a slight chance of very light rainfall may increase saturation in the upper snowpack during the day on Saturday. While we think the upper snowpack has mostly adjusted to the recent mild conditions, you can still trigger a small wet avalanche in isolated areas anywhere you sink in past your ankle.  If a wet avalanche starts moving it will entrain surface snow and could be dangerous if it buries you in a creek or canyon bottom.

    While conditions remain mild, assume any overhanging cornice may be weakened and prone to failure. Give these features space along ridgelines and don't linger on the slopes below them.

    (3/24/2022)

    Take a moment to step off your mode of travel to see how deeply you are plunging into the snow. If you are sinking in past your ankle, start to think about wet avalanches. 

    Photo: Dallas Glass

Avalanche Discussion

Dangerous travel conditions may present themselves if crusts form overnight. Make sure you can self-arrest if you plan to travel on steep terrain in the morning.

Spring-like weather and above freezing temperatures have been the rule at Mt. Hood since mid-day Monday except for a brief dip in temperatures Wednesday night.  With some clearing of the skies Thursday night, Mt. Hood Meadows patrol reported firm crusts above 6600 ft with only a few inches of softening by the afternoon. At lower elevations, the overnight refreeze was poor with 6-8" of boot penetration. On Thursday, MHM Patrol reported small wet loose avalanches in rocky terrain above treeline. 

Early in the week, natural avalanches were observed up to D2 including cornice-fall triggered wind slabs and wet loose avalanches on easterly aspects in White River Canyon between 5800-7400ft. Shallow, but long-running wet loose avalanches were also visible on the east face of Mt Hood in steep rocky terrain above the Newton Clark Glacier.  The snowpack on the upper mountain seems to have consolidated and these slopes no longer pose a threat. The most recently reported activity were some very small cornice fall avalanches in the White River drainage on Thursday.  

Last weekend, 8-15 inches of cold dry snow accumulated with the highest totals on the south and west sides of Mt Hood, but mild temperatures this week have helped this snow transition to a more spring-like state going into this weekend.

Regions covered