Avalanche forecast

Mt Hood

Northwest Avalanche Center
View on map

Avalanche danger

Mon
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
Open full map
Out of date — this forecast expired 5 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Slabs will be increasingly reactive later in the day and as you ascend into drier snow with thicker, more reactive drifts. Note the degree of active or recent snow transport, using small test slopes to evaluate punchy layers. Steer around steep slopes on the lee sides of ridgelines where drifts may be 6" or deeper. 

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–1.5

    We're expecting 2-6" of fresh snow to fall at upper elevations with lesser amounts at middle elevations. Westerly winds will be increasing along with the snowfall rates from late morning through the afternoon hours. Since we're building slabs from scratch, the first item to track is the depth of new snow above the freshly buried crust. Dry snow available for transport will actively redistribute onto lee slopes where pockets 6" or deeper could form with just a few inches of snow. While we expect most of the slab hazard to be limited to areas just below freshly corniced ridgelines given that the winds are mostly light and the snow might be on the sticky side. At the highest NWAC forecast elevations or where the snow is drier, gauge the degree of active and recent transport as slabs might start to connect a bit more by the end of the day. Steer around steep slopes where drifts might be 6" or deeper. If snow totals are closer to the upper end of the forecast or if winds ramp up sooner than you expect, dial back your terrain selection and choose more sheltered terrain. At middle elevations, it may be quite easy to identify isolated pockets of drifted snow by the color difference from the scoured pre-existing thick crust.

    Example: Actively drifting snow covering your tracks is a sign fresh slabs are forming nearby. 

Avalanche Discussion

From noon on Friday through late Saturday, Mt Hood weather stations picked up 0.5-0.7" of water equivalent with the most reported at Ski Bowl. Temperatures were on the warm side despite the start of a gradual cooling trend. The precipitation arrived as a rain/snow mix at middle elevations and as a very wet snow with very minor accumulation at upper elevations. More consistent snow accumulation was visible above 9000 ft, but was not covering rocks. Mt Hood Meadows Pro Patrol reported some minor rollerball activity and very surficial point releases visible in the White River drainage along with pockets of very shallow drifted sticky new snow sitting above the wet old snow surface at the ski area. 6500 ft temperatures dropped into the low 30s Friday night and rose to just shy of 40F during the day.

Since April 3rd, freezing levels have been flirting with the summit of Mt. Hood at nearly 10-11,000 ft and the snowpack has consolidated 13" due to consolidation and melting. Snow depths above the more 3/31 crust have now consolidated into the 3-6" range on most slopes with snow coverage. The loss of snow coverage in recent weeks is dramatic in the images and should be on your mind as you ride terrain that typically might have better coverage this time of year. Open creeks, shallowly covered or exposed rocks, and snow moats opening up are all spring challenges that may be a month or more ahead of schedule this season.

Spring weather is fickle. We're not expecting much in the way of sunshine on Saturday.  But the sun does come out, fresh snow can destabilize quickly to form small wet avalanches running on the new crust.

As ski area operations gradually wind down, your observations are especially valuable to us.  Let us know what you see by submitting an observation here or on the AvyApp.

Regions covered