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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 10th, 2020–Dec 13th, 2020

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

Regions

Waterton Lakes.

Increasing winds on sunday will transition us from a dry loose to windslab problem. Keep an eye on what the weather is doing, and feel for stiffening snow as you travel through terrain. Skiing is still marginal at lower elevations.

Weather Forecast

Friday: Mainly cloudy, trace precipitation. Light E winds with an alpine high of -7, low -12

Saturday: Very similar to Friday, with a clearing and cooling trend in the evening.

Sunday: Increasing winds from the southwest up to 50km/h at ridgetop. Temperatures remaining in the -8 to -12 range.

Snowpack Summary

In the Cameron lake area, 10-20cm of pristine low density storm snow sits on a newly formed crust. This overlies a well consolidated midpack above the 2020-11-05 ice crust that forms the bottom of the snowpack. Treeline snow depth in the Cameron lake area just over 1m with amounts tapering quickly at lower elevations and in other areas of the park.

Avalanche Summary

Several loose dry avalanches big enough to sweep you off your feet and into any obstacles were observed on steep slopes on all aspects thursday. These were running on the newly formed December 10 crust.

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.