Lots of Snow/Rain in Forecast, bad idea to snowshoe right afterwards?

[proxie]

I have some time off and was looking to hit up some snowshoes either around Bend or Mt. Hood area. Been researching and have some options. However, there is a lot of snow/rain in the upcoming forecast for the next 4-5 days.

This may be an obvious question, but assuming road conditions are doable with chains to get to the start of a trailhead/sno-park, is it a bad idea in general to tackle some snowshoe trips "right after" they get dumped on by rain/snow? I'm thinking that while the fresh dump of snow may make things a lot more beautiful, it is just way too high a risk for stuff like avalanches on steep terrain.

[Bosterson]

It completely depends on what kind of terrain you'd be in. If you're in a mostly flat area, this wouldn't really matter, though the snow could be waterlogged and heavy and generally make snowshoeing more of a pain.

[jessbee]

At least bookmark these two sites:

https://www.nwac.us/

http://www.coavalanche.org/

If you're headed up a mountain or below steep, avalanche prone slopes, it's very important to stay on top of current avy conditions.

And if you don't want to deal with breaking trail in wet, heavy snow, wait til Sunday so the trails will have had at least a day of foot traffic packing down the trail

[BigBear]

Location. location. location.

If you're planning to ascend up from Timberline, the avalanche danger would be extreme when a new layer of precipitation lands on existing snow. It takes 48 hours for the new layer "bond".

If your plan is a forested ridgeline like the PCT to Twin Lakes from either Barlow Pass or Wapinita Pass, you are going to be okay (with the exception of that exposed talus slope between the two lakes in the outflow canyon).

Slab avalanches on open slopes would be very likely in the early days of this storm. Snow bombs from high tree limbs very likely if the temperature warms to the freezing point or above.

[pcg]

Location. location. location... the avalanche danger would be extreme when a new layer of precipitation lands on existing snow. It takes 48 hours for the new layer "bond".

I was up snow shoeing yesterday and notice a layer of hoar frost on the snow. Beautiful to behold but it makes for a weak bond to new snow. The weak layer from hoar frost can persist to weeks or more. So yes, stay away from avalanche terrain. A warm spell and a lot of rain (Pineapple Express) would wipe out that weak layer.

[Water]

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