Avalanche Forecast

The avalanche danger is diminishing as temperatures cool and cloud cover increases. The main avalanche concern will shift to below treeline where you could still trigger Loose Wet avalanches on Saturday. If you sink in wet snow up to the top of your boots, avoid slopes over 35 degrees.

Cooling will allow for gradually refreezing surface snow near and above treeline. The newly forming crust will limit the possibility of avalanches. Only light amounts of new snow is expected in a showery weather pattern Saturday with generally light winds. There is not expected to be enough new snow or wind to create a significant avalanche problem in higher terrain.

If local areas are receiving greater than forecast new snow or rain, be prepared to change travel plans and avoid travel on or below steeper terrain. 

Cooling and clouds arriving late Friday allowed for previous wet and weak surface snow to begin re-freezing and consolidating, especially near and above treeline.

Sunshine and increasingly warm temperatures Sunday through Friday over the Mt. Hood region have continued the transition to a fully spring-like snowpack of well drained large melt-freeze snow grains. Since late Monday morning, most mid-elevation sites have remained above freezing and by Thursday, daytime high temperatures were in the 50's and 60's at mid-elevation stations.

Significant snowfall accumulated in the Mt Hood area earlier in the week. Around 16-20 inches (40-50 cm) of snow fell 4/15 through 4/17. Strong west-southwest winds during the storm transported the new snow forming wind slabs which have subsequently healed.

While numerous layers can still be found within the snowpack, there are no significant layers of concern at this time.