Bulletin d’avalanche

Mt Hood

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Danger d’avalanche

Thu
Alpin
3 · Marqué
Limite forestière
3 · Marqué
Sous la limite
2 · Modéré
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Périmé — ce bulletin a expiré last year. Vous consultez des conditions passées, pas le bulletin en cours.

Points saillants

Another unseasonably warm day will maintain dangerous and unpredictable avalanche conditions around Mt. Hood. Recent large to very large natural avalanches should help keep your terrain selection well away from steep slopes and sagging cornices. Let the warm-up run its course and stick to simple terrain with minimal overhead avalanche concerns. 

Problèmes avalancheux

  • Wet Slabs

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Likely
    Taille
    2–3

    This wet avalanche problem (slab & loose) is not trending downwards much until we see significant cooling and a solid refreeze. Over the past two days, observers have reported numerous wet slabs in the D2-D3.5 range, all of which are likely to have failed within the last 2 days. Some of these slab avalanches broke widely across terrain features and ran several thousands of feet. Another mild night and warm day will only keep the meltwater pumping through the snowpack, which will continue to destabilize weak interfaces and maintain the threat of these wet avalanches. 

    Don’t be fooled by the nice weather and think the spring riding or climbing will be primo, because it's far from it right now. The reality is the snowpack is wet, punchy, and quite unpredictable at the moment. Wet slabs won’t give you much warning before they release and loose wet avalanches could grow surprisingly large in steep terrain. Until we see a refreeze, keep your terrain selection simple. Avoid steep slopes and limit the time you spend under large terrain features, which include upper canyon run-outs that very large avalanches snake through every season. 

    Cornices are a real hazard right now and they could be great triggers for larger avalanches. Give these overhanging chunks of snow a wide buffer. Glide cracks tend to be more isolated around Mt Hood, but these can peel off rock slabs without warning. Don't linger under terrain with these cracks. 

    (3/25/2025)

    Looking down at the debris from a very large (D3) wet slab avalanche in the White River Canyon. 

    WS-N-R3-D3 @ E aspect, 7200 ft

    Photo: Joe Dellaporta

Avalanche Discussion

If you went out Tuesday, you probably found bad skiing/riding, deep boot penetrations, and maybe some avalanches. Unfortunately, Wednesday will likely be a rinse and repeat with another warm day and a chance of thunderstorms during the afternoon hours. Some of these storms could bring downpours, hail, and lightning - so plan accordingly. 

With the recent hot temperatures and numerous wet slab occurrences around the region over the last 24-48 hours, I'm just not yet ready to trust this snowpack in steep terrain. Sure, wet loose avalanches may be more predictable and manageable, but it's the possibility of wet slab avalanches that is keeping us on our toes as forecasters. These wet slabs are notoriously difficult to forecast and manage, and will sometimes release when you least expect them to. The best way to deal with the uncertainty of wet snow is to widen your margins around steep slopes and exercise patience until a proper refreeze occurs. That should come later this week, stay tuned.

You can add to the forecast! Submit an observation here.

 

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