Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Beautiful days in the mountains! Blue sky with sun, and a cool north wind keeping the snow surface cold. Steep south aspects today warmed up slightly, but no significant wet snow or or rockfall was observed. Tuesday looks to be a repeat . . .
Weather Forecast
The stable weather will continue for one more day, as Tuesday looks to be another beautiful mountain day. Sunny with a high of -9 and a low down to -16 overnight, light winds and no new snow. Wednesday is showing a minor system passing through the area, with the potential for 5-10 cm across the forecast area.
Snowpack Summary
The Jan 25 surface hoar layer is buried under 5 cm of snow in many areas. While not a problem now, this protected layer of surface hoar will become a weak layer in the future. Strong solar radiation has formed suncrust on south & west facing slopes. The facets at the base of the snowpack remain weak, but the overall snowpack is gaining strength.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches observed in the past several days.
Confidence
The weather pattern is stable on Tuesday
Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.