Mt Hood

It's the calm before the weekend storm: Friday's avalanche concerns should be limited to small and localized pockets of wind slab on lee aspects and small wet loose on solar aspects.  

An approaching Pacific frontal system should increase cloud cover for Mt. Hood late Friday afternoon and bring a significant uptick in SW winds. Significant new snow and rain should hold off until Friday night for Mt. Hood.    

The avalanche danger Friday should be limited to small and localized pockets of wind slab on lee aspects and small wet loose on solar aspects with both problems found mainly above treeline.  

It's April, so be aware of the increased sun effects reaching more aspects and affecting the snow surface fairly quickly. Loose wet avalanches involving shallow amounts of recent storm snow will be possible, especially in any direct sun on solar slopes earlier in the day.  

Cornices won't be highlighted as an avalanche problem due to the cool weather but use caution on slopes below cornices and on ridges where it can be hard to know if a cornice is present.

A large weak upper trough moved over the Northwest last weekend through early this week with showers Sunday depositing 6-7 inches at Mt. Hood. Freezing levels have been very low in April compared to most of the winter, averaging about 4-5000 feet. Shallow storm slab layer was reported by the Meadows patrol Monday.

On Wednesday and Thursday, clear skies transitioned to scattered afternoon showers with light and spotty new accumulations. The Meadows patrol reported easy shears in quick test pits in recent storm snow at 7300 feet on Wednesday on a lee aspect. 

Snowpack problems at Mt Hood should remain in the upper or surface layers. The mid and lower snowpack at Mt Hood consists of layers of stable consolidated rounded grains or melt forms and crusts from multiple warm periods this season. Many areas at low elevations do not have enough snow to cause an avalanche danger.