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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 27th, 2015–Mar 28th, 2015

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Mt Hood.

Use caution in higher elevations where possibly greater new snow may accumulate, especially lee slopes near ridges. Watch for areas of wet snow at mid elevations, and during daytime warming. 

Detailed Forecast

A frontal passage Friday night should cause some light to moderate new snow, but initially rain changing to snow should leave good bonding of new snow to the old wet snow surface. 

Watch for areas where new snow has been transported by wind to lee slopes at higher elevations along ridges. Also, watch for cornice development that may be soft and sensitive to trigger or release from daytime warming. 

Less recent snow and ample terrain anchors may limit the avalanche danger below treeline. Many areas at the lowest elevations do not have enough snow to cause an avalanche danger.

Snowpack Discussion

A fairly vigorous low pressure system moved east over the Mt Hood area Monday night/Tuesday morning offering a taste of winter-like conditions; new snow amounts were about 9-11 inches at Mt Hood. On Tuesday, the Meadows patrol only ventured up to 6600 feet due to stormy conditions where they found lee slopes and start zones loading and pockets of 6-10 inch wind slab triggered by ski cuts and explosives. Those same lee slopes at 6600 feet on Wednesday AM produced pockets of wind slab that did not readily propagate along with some sensitive cornices.

Light to moderate precipitation along with a warming trend tapered off Wednesday afternoon as snow levels pushed above 7000 feet.

Sunny and very warm temperatures Thursday and again Friday helped to melt and weaken surface snow layers, however, no avalanches have been reported thus far.  

Snowpack problems at Mt Hood for the time being should be 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 winter. The snowpack at low elevations at Mt Hood remains meager to non-existent.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

Loose Wet

Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.