Mt Hood

Lingering hazard exists anywhere poorly supported snow can fall down on you. More uncertainty exists if you head above NWAC forecast elevations where significantly more snowfall may have accumulated in recent days. Firm crusts are likely again on Saturday, so make sure you can arrest a fall before crossing a steep slope.

Mt Hood finally made an appearance on Friday after 9" of rain doused the mountain since Monday. Several observers got good looks at a substantial loss of snowcover on nascent middle elevation slopes. Avalanche risk and rideable terrain go hand-in-hand. N and E aspects above 6000 to 6200 ft have continuous coverage in many areas. Upper elevations above 7000-7500 ft is where you'll find a vastly different world with snow on most aspects.

On Friday, Ryan Matz found refrozen post-rain snow that’s remarkably smooth and could easily allow a long, sliding fall. Make sure you have some sharps and know how to use them to self arrest. Friday night's clear skies are likely to firm up snow surfaces once again despite the spring weather and should help to reduce avalanche risks. However, a long, uncontrolled sliding fall remains one of your greatest risks on Saturday. The silver lining is that slopes below 7000 ft softened by Friday afternoon and this might happen once again on Saturday.

Drying out from a prolonged wind, wet storm cycle is a process. Water flows through and under the snowpack, lubricating bedsurfaces and creating the risk for isolated chunks of snow to fall of precarious perches, a form of glide avalanche. Steer clear of potentially suspect slopes, particularly those that might fall down from above you.

This is a time when snowpack stability may diverge significantly above NWAC forecast elevations. Photos taken 12/12 depict large wet loose avalanches in Clark Canyon, running down to 8000 ft, but also widely propagating avalanche crowns indicative of significant instability on the upper mountain during the storm cycle. We don't know whether any of this instability may linger, so you will want to make your own assessment and consider your exposure to large, steep slopes if you venture onto the upper mountain. We suspect that the upper elevations of Mt Hood may have received significant snowfall in addition to rain and recent snow generally requires time to stabilize.

Continue to expect very rough travel, high creek crossings, and downed trees making it more difficult to access higher elevation snow in many areas.

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.