Bollettino valanghe

Mt Hood

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Pericolo valanghe

Wed
Alta quota
3 · Marcato
Limite del bosco
3 · Marcato
Sotto il limite
3 · Marcato
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In sintesi

Heavy loading and warming temperatures have created dangerous avalanche conditions around Mt. Hood. Any steep slope will be dangerous, especially in areas with wind drifting. Stick to simple, sheltered low-angle terrain, and avoid travel under large, steep slopes. 

Morning Update: The precipitation forecast for today has backed off. The avalanche danger has dropped to Considerable. Conditions remain dangerous as snow levels continue to spike today. It remains possible for very large avalanches to still release in some select areas as snow levels creep up. 

Problemi valanghivi

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alta quota
    • Limite del bosco
    • Sotto il limite del bosco
    Probabilità
    Likely
    Dimensione
    2–3

    Heavy, dense snow will continue to accumulate on a gradual warming trend, setting the stage for reactive storm and wind slabs. Expect these slabs to be much larger and deadlier on wind-loaded slopes. These avalanches could break within the new storm snow, on recently formed crusts, or in isolated areas; they could step down to weak faceted snow resting over the 2/7 crust, creating a much bigger avalanche. This weak structure has been most prominent on the east side of Mt. Hood, but I wouldn’t rule it out elsewhere, given limited observations. With the warming trend and heavy loading, large to very large avalanches remain a very real concern. Some of these could initiate on the upper mountain or canyons and gouge into canyon runouts. 

    The travel advice is simple on a day like this: stay off and out of the way of all avalanche terrain. This includes traveling below large steep slopes or anywhere in the upper canyons where overhead avalanche concerns are significant. 

    (2/23/2026)

    A shallow but wide natural avalanche in the Stevens Pass zone on February 23rd. Don't ignore recent avalanches, shooting cracks, or whumphing as obvious signs of instability. 

    Photo: Nick Kelley

  • Loose Wet

    • Alta quota
    • Limite del bosco
    • Sotto il limite del bosco
    Probabilità
    Likely
    Dimensione
    1–2

    Snow levels are forecast to creep up to 6000 ft or even higher, depending on how this storm plays out. Natural wet avalanches may start start peeling off as snow transitions to rain, and these could be easy to trigger on steep terrain. Some of these slides could carry some weight and grow large given the amount of recent snow we received. 

    Look for rollerballs, pinwheels, or sluffs fanning out below your skis or machine as obvious clues the snow surface is becoming wet and weak. While many folks may think these tend to be more manageable, they won’t be if they funnel into terrain traps or if they grow larger than you anticipate. You can simply avoid this issue by staying off of any steep terrain if the snow feels wet or if heavy snow starts transitioning to rain. 

    (2/15/2026)

    An example of a wet avalanche from earlier this winter. Wet avalanches could grow on Tuesday in terrain like this. 

Avalanche Discussion

This storm will continue to bring waves of moisture and fluctuating snow levels to the Mt. Hood zone. There is some uncertainty about snow levels, but expect them to range from 5500 to 6500 ft throughout the day. These are some of the highest snow levels we’ve seen in a while, so expect new snow to fall upside-down and for wet avalanches to be easy to trigger, especially when snow starts changing to rain. 

The new snow is finally stacking up. Unfortunately, the new snow isn't as blower as last week's, but since the 21st, weather stations have picked up approximately 21 inches (2" SWE) on a very slow warming trend. Avalanche activity has been mainly confined to wind-drifted features, and occasional storm slabs have been reported during periods of heavy precipitation. Signs of wet snow instabilities have been creeping further into the lower elevations, but wet avalanche observations have been minimal so far. 

Below the surface, we do have things to think about. On Sunday, I got good verification that weak layers do, in fact, exist above the 2/7 crust on the eastern side of Mt Hood near Cloud Cap. In general, I found these weak grains about 1.5-2 ft below the surface, sitting just above the 2/7 crust. This weak layer did show the ability to propagate with snowpack tests and was easy to identify with hand hardness profiles. While this layer was easy to identify here, it wasn't as obvious on the south side of the mountain, where the snowpack was generally deeper and stronger over this crust. This is a well-documented weak layer that has transitioned to a persistent slab avalanche problem just to our north. So far, these kinds of observations are few and confined to the eastern part of the Mt. Hood zone, but I wouldn’t fully rule it out at upper elevations or in data-sparse areas. 

 Let us know what you see by submitting an observation here or on the AvyApp

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