Avalanche forecast

Mt Hood

Northwest Avalanche Center
View on map

Avalanche danger

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Out of date — this forecast expired 2 years ago.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

Highlights

Reactive drifts exist lurk throughout the terrain and slabs could be large at middle and upper elevations.  Recent wind redistribution focuses on traditional aspects, with slab formation down into trees at lower elevations. Avoid open slopes steeper than 35 degrees where you see signs of active or recent wind loading, shooting cracks, or below recently formed cornices.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1.5–2

    Saturday will be a challenging day to find stable or safe riding conditions on open slopes, so trees are your best bet. Strong W winds Friday afternoon heavily redistributed a foot of snow that fell Thursday night. That snow was dense and may overly lower density snow in some areas or wind slabs from E winds on Wednesday. Slabs continue to build on typical aspects Friday night. Moderate ridgeline winds will redistribute several inches of new snow that falls on Saturday, but that new snow could mask the slab in some areas. Given the strength and complexity of the wind patterns, it may be tricky to identify which slopes have loaded recently. Firm over weak snow layering (punchy snow) will be critical to identify in order to avoid the problem. Fresh, sharp cornices can help you anticipate the most recently loaded slopes. Older wind slabs may or may not remain reactive on W aspects, so you should evaluate these slopes before committing to any steeper terrain. Ascend cautiously and assume open slopes harbor wind slabs unless evidence on the ground suggests otherwise. These slabs may lurk well below ridgelines, including on mid-slope features, on gullies deep in the canyons, and on small rollovers within the forest. Although slabs might be small at lower elevations, it won't take much to ruin your day if a wind slab rakes you through the trees.

    (2/14/2025)

    Winds Friday afternoon transported significant amounts of snow at all elevations on Mt Hood, forming reactive slabs.

    Photo: Northwest Avalanche Center

Avalanche Discussion

Thursday and Friday brought weather whiplash to Mt Hood. These rapid changes make it difficult to keep up with the shifting distribution of these slabs around the mountain and warrant a more conservative approach to terrain management on Saturday than you might on a day when slabs are easier to identify and avoid.

Strong to extreme W and WNW winds peaked Friday afternoon. They redistributed a foot of denser snow that fell Thursday night. In below-treeline terrain. open slopes held lower-density snow on shaded aspects until 1 PM when winds ramped up drastically, drifting significant amounts of snow, filling skin tracks, and creating a ground blizzard on the nearby highway.

Thursday also featured a significant wind event, but from the E-SE. Timberline reported gusts in the 40s and Ski Bowl reported gusts in the mid 50s. At the Mt Hood Meadows ski area,  E-SE winds weren't as strong as other areas early in the day and eventually shifted to the SW in the afternoon.   Pea Gravel Ridge harbored shallow but easy-to-trigger wind slabs below the treeline on E-NE aspects.  

The January Drought Layer (JDL)  has been a prominent upper snowpack marker and a popular topic of conservation in our backcountry community these past weeks. You can dig down 2-3 ft and find this weak, sugary snow in most locations around Mt Hood. However, we have typically found it to be weakest on N-E aspects at lower and middle elevations. While we haven't seen any confirmed avalanches on it, it is worth tracking, especially if you head into more data-sparse areas like the north side of Mt Hood or further east near Lookout Mountain. Across the Columbia River and in the West and East South zones, we have seen propagating test scores, whumpfs, and a few avalanches.

Regions covered