Avalanche forecast

Mt Hood

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Mon
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 4 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

An intense early-season storm combines the heavy snowfall and strong winds necessary to create widespread slabs you can trigger, particularly above treeline. Active snow transport, shooting cracks, or hollow-sounding snow should remind you to navigate away from wind-loaded slopes steeper than 35 degrees. At lower elevations, early-season conditions remain a serious travel hazard with rocks, stumps, and creeks veiled by the new snow.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–2

    A major early-season storm will form slabs you can trigger on Sunday. Strong winds will redistribute 5-10" of fresh snow, most of which falls during the daylight hours on Sunday. Strong to extreme winds will strip snow from windward aspects, depositing it on lee slopes where slabs will be rapidly increasing in all dimensions. Slabs may be small and on specific terrain features when you start the day, but they will become widespread and large from mid-morning onwards. Blizzard conditions with all the snow transport should both make navigation challenging, but all that blowing snow creates firm wind deposits and cracking surfaces that serve as a reminder to avoid all upper elevation lee slopes steeper than 35 degrees.

    Near treeline, the same wind-loaded slopes that have enough snow to ride will be the specific terrain features where you can trigger a smaller avalanche on a steep slope. When in doubt, use test slopes of inconsequential size to assess slab reactivity. Steer around steep deposition zones where you find smooth slopes and lens-shaped deposits of snow. 

    Example: Firm piles of wind-drifted provide a warning of unstable snow on steep slopes. Photo: Andrew Kiefer

Avalanche Discussion

Avalanches will not be your only challenge when navigating in the backcountry on Sunday. Don't forget about the shallow coverage and the risks inherent to early-season travel. NWAC's newest Mt Hood forecaster, Joe Dellaporta, explored travel conditions prior to the storm on Thursday and found a variety of crusts, wind-affected snow surfaces, along with thin low to mid-elevation coverage on Mt. Hood. You can read his full observation here.  

On Sunday you will encounter wind-exposed aspects, ridges, and near or below treeline terrain with shallowly buried objects such as trees, stumps, open creeks, and rocks lurking under a few inches of recent snow.  Remember that even a small avalanche in a shallow snowpack will be consequential given the added potential for traumatic injury.

Before you head out the door, remember to check the Uphill Travel Policies of your local Ski Resorts. 

If you're out in the snow, share your observations with us and your local backcountry community.

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