Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 4th, 2021–Mar 7th, 2021

Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Regions

Waterton Lakes.

http://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/links/goto_e.asp?destination=

UPDATED THUSDAY 08:00

This is the first big warm up of the season, and we expect to see an increase in natural avalanche activity, especially on sunny slopes - the hazard will likely creep into the HIGH range on Thursday afternoon with intense sun.

Weather Forecast

Thursday: Sunny. Alpine temperature: High 3 C. Ridge wind southwest: 20-40 km/h. Freezing level: 2600 meters dropping to 1300m overnight with a weak inversion.

Friday: Repeat of Thursday with a little more cloud cover.

Saturday: Flurries. Ridge wind southwest: 30 km/h gusting to 60 km/h. Freezing level: 2500 metres.

Snowpack Summary

Surface snow will quickly become moist as the sun beats down and freezing levels rise to ridge top. 20-50cm wind slab sits on top of the weak February 14 facet layer which is above a melt freeze crust at treeline and below. The remainder of the midpack is made up of dense facets and decomposing crusts, with early season ice crusts forming the base.

Avalanche Summary

Several natural wind slab and loose wet avalanches were observed on Wednesday on SE through NE aspects from 1800-2200m with rising freezing levels. Expect this trend of natural avalanches to continue until temperatures drop.

Confidence

The weather pattern is stable

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.

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.