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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 16th, 2020–Mar 17th, 2020

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Glacier.

Clear skies and warm temps are in the forecast for today, lather up with sun screen, don't forget your shades, and expect avalanches to become more likely into the afternoon.

Weather Forecast

A warm ridge of high pressure has moved in from the Pacific. Temperatures are forecast to warm significantly through out the day, valley bottom temps are currently -13 and the freezing level if forecast to climb as high as 1800m today. Clear skies and calm winds will cause solar aspects to heat up quickly.

Snowpack Summary

Most open terrain is heavily wind effected from the strong NE winds Friday-Saturday. The Mar. 10th interface of a suncrust on all solar aspects, and isolated surface hoar, is now buried down 20-40cms. The Feb 22 persistent weak layer is down 90-130cm and consists of 3-7mm surface hoar on all aspects up to 2450m as well as a crust on solar aspects.

Avalanche Summary

Several small loose snow avalanches occured on solar aspects on Saturday.

A large (size 2) slab avalanche occured naturally overnight Saturday in the Observatory path (N aspect at Treeline in the Abbott winter prohibited area) - see MIN.

Confidence

Problems

Loose Dry

Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.