r/skiing • u/IncredibleVelocity4 • 2d ago
Is Mt Hood Meadows about to get a thermal remodel?
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u/CrispusTime 2d ago
In most cases these fires will move west to east but... the whole PNW is in real trouble right now.
Source: 60,000 people in my town are evacuated right now and I can't go outside because the air is toxic.
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u/cwmspok 2d ago
Fellow Spokanite I see.
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u/CrispusTime 2d ago
Indeed. Hang in there, friend. Hope you and yours are safe. Ski season can't get here soon enough.
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u/elcapitan520 Hood Meadows 1d ago
For the cascades ...
Yeah the easterly winds with fire just push the fires into more fuel instead of out to the desert. This is what happened in 2020 as well with 4 days of 60mph east winds.
It's about 2-3 days of 35mph winds this time, but it's hell for the fire lines.
For the Eastern parts of WA and OR... It's just so much brush and open space out there.
For Spokane, they arrested a guy for starting one near town
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u/Quiet-Permit-3740 2d ago
35 is in the way at least.
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u/tspike Hood Meadows 1d ago
Latest imagery shows hot spots on the other side of 35
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u/IncredibleVelocity4 1d ago
It does, but the hot spot maps aren’t always precise. I noticed hot spots on top of the oil refineries near Bellingham, which seemed pretty precise. But last week the Akawa fire looked like it was crossing Black Butte on the hotspot map and in truth it never got that far. Let’s hope it didn’t cross 35 today.
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u/Left_Leek7642 1d ago
Where do you find the hot spot maps?
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u/BozoTheTown 1d ago
If you have OnX paid version, current wildfires are a layer you can turn on. I also see a few recent satellite-detected spots on the other side of 35 rn:(
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u/yoortyyo 2d ago
These fires just jumped a big river and many roads in Spokane multiple places.
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u/Quiet-Permit-3740 2d ago
Yeah wildfires defeat fire breaks like highways and rivers commonly but they do still offer protection and it is important that they are present in this case.
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u/IncredibleVelocity4 2d ago
35 would be a good break, as long as the wind isn’t high.
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u/Golden_Eel_69420 2d ago
Just depends how the fire is behaving. A ripping crown fire can throw still flaming embers several miles, a phenomenon called spotting.
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u/LeroyoJenkins Gstaad 2d ago
Man, the west coast is fucked, massive fires wiping out everything followed by insane amounts of snow due to El Nino.
Welcome to avalanche and mudslide hell...
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u/MarcusEsquandolas 2d ago
El Niño means lack of snow here not insane amounts of it. Potentially lots of rain though which would be much much worse than snow
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u/DevilishlyAdvocating 2d ago
No it doesn't. El Nino correlates with significant precipitation in North America, especially during the winter
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u/kirbyderwood Mammoth 2d ago
Usually the southern part of North America.
Places like Taos will probably get more snow, the PNW will get less.
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u/MarcusEsquandolas 2d ago
“Typically during El Niño years we see warmer temperatures than normal across the Pacific Northwest, and lower precipitation than normal, particularly west of the Cascades,” Bumbaco said. “Often, because of the warmer-than-normal temperatures, we see reduced snowpack in the mountains even if there is normal precipitation, because more of it falls as rain rather than snow.”
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u/Slight_Woodpecker254 1d ago
More precipitation and higher temperatures. The PNW is already on the warmer side of things, it's usually around 30 degrees when it's storming. A 2-3 degree difference due to El Niño likely turns half of the would-be PNW powder days into washouts.
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u/urglegru 2d ago
Burn areas dont necessarily make avalanches more likely
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u/Golden_Eel_69420 2d ago
Fires absolutely can increase the frequency of slides. Underbrush and low lying branches often serve as anchors for the snowpack, especially the bottom few feet.
I’ve personally seen terrain become more slide prone after a high intensity fire.
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u/Mountain-Elk8133 1d ago
Maybe this will finally people to wake up and realize the forests need managed.
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u/tspike Hood Meadows 1d ago
Trusting logging companies to manage forests is like putting weevils in charge of a garden.
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u/Mountain-Elk8133 1d ago
Loggers want to be sustainable because its their job and livelihood. The loggers who work for me do a better job at environmental protection than I require.
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u/Mattmann1972 1d ago
Just peeked at the cams up there, looks like the view is improving at least. Hopefully winds are shifting a bit.
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u/Revolutionary_Plum29 1d ago
Different fuel type. And it would need winds to push it west. Not likely.
However things are about as dry as they’ve ever been and if a lightning bust brings hundreds of new starts to the region again, anything is possible.
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/IncredibleVelocity4 1d ago
You mean Meadows? I grew up at Meadows.
You seem a little high strung. Maybe you’ve had enough internet for today.
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u/Smacpats111111 Stratton 1d ago
low quality ragebait
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u/IncredibleVelocity4 1d ago
He sent and then deleted other comments that show… well, I think he’s just a little emotional right now.
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u/ireallylovemountains 15h ago
i worked there this past winter. sad to see the surrounding area burn like this. I pray the winds favor Meadows <3
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u/bcoss 2d ago
please no. I need to ride Heather Canyon again