Mt Hood

Moist to wet surface snow should maintain loose wet snow avalanche potential Friday. Also, watch for recent cornice development along ridges.

Increasing high clouds, but warm temperatures are expected for Mt. Hood Friday with high freezing levels that will gradually lower late Friday. This should maintain the possibility of loose wet avalanches, especially on solar slopes near and above treeline that did not naturally avalanche Wednesday or Thursday.

Avoid steeper slopes if you are sinking in more than a few inches, and be aware the even small loose wet avalanches are powerful and can push you into unintended terrain features.  

Fresh cornices along ridgelines have likely been weakened and should become susceptible to failure again Friday under warm weather and potential sunshine. Make sure to give them a wide berth, and be aware of corniced slopes above you.  

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.

About 4-6 inches of snow was seen above about 6000 feet Saturday building some stubborn wind slab up to 1 foot on lee NE slopes as noted my the Meadows pro patrol. 

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 on 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 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.