Mt. Hood Weather Info

[Das Beerd]

I'm looking at heading up the South Side of Hood this Friday/Saturday. I've been up before, but it's always been with groups where I haven't had to judge the weather conditions before heading out. Since I've got a 3.5 hour drive I'd like to have a good idea what to expect before I get there.

 

Where do you guys go for info on weather and avy danger for Hood? Any chance anyone knows what the conditions are potentially going to look like this weekend?

 

Thanks!

[Water]

i use these different sources:

NWAC (though they have run out of season's funding and will only make forecasts for emergency/high risk conditions now)

 

NOAA

 

top of magic mile - timberline conditions

 

and the webcams at

timberline webcams

 

 

it says cloudy and a chance of rain for the weekend. read the extended forecast in the forecast discussion. one model has a low hitting here late sat/sunday--another has it missing the area and going up to bc. unless there is a high-pressure ridge established or an obviously huge front heading onto shore, most of the time the forecast seems like a wash until just a day or two before, and even then apt to change.

 

have fun

[Das Beerd]

Cool. These are really helpful. Is there a spot that shows how much snow actually fell or has a current avy-danger status since NWAC is done for the year?

[billbob]

I like what Water said, including the implication that even the mighty NOAA might be uncertain about accurate forecasts during the spring. Others might also look at Intellicast http://www.intellicast.com/Local/Weather.aspx?location=USOR0144 or Mountain Forecast http://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/Mount-Hood/forecasts/2500

 

The Timberline site has data on recent and total snowfall amounts. The NWAC site shows hourly conditions at the 7,000' level above Timberline for the past ten days.

 

You might also consider joining a group with a professional guide, they will help you learn a lot about climbing big volcanoes.

 

 

[Das Beerd]

Cool. Thanks guys!

[prussik1]

Portland Mountain Rescue (www.pmru.org) has a great website (click on safety education) that has a lot of useful links and information about climbing Mt. Hood.

christopher