Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 23rd, 2019–Mar 24th, 2019

Alpine

Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

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, human triggered possible.

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Glacier.

Temperatures at 2000m have remained above zero for the past 6 days resulting in an isothermal snowpack below tree line. If the sun shines today expect the avalanche hazard to increase as the upper snowpack loses strength.

Weather Forecast

Thin cloud cover today with sunny periods, alpine temperatures returning to below zero with a high of -2 as the freezing level will hovering around 1900m. Ridge top winds will be light. Cloud and cooler temps for the next few days with a chance of snow on Tuesday

Snowpack Summary

High freezing levels all week have resulted in poor overnight recovery of the snow surface. Isothermal conditions exist below tree line. Expect to find supportive/breakable crust on all aspects at and below tree line and on steep solar aspects in the alpine.

Avalanche Summary

The natural spring avalanche cycle has slowed since starting last Sunday, but still produced avalanches up to sz 2.5 yesterday on the South aspects of Grizzly and Connaught slide paths. Multiple artillery and helicopter control missions this week produced numerous avalanches up to sz 3.0 on all aspects.

Confidence

Problems

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.

Loose Wet

Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.