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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 12th, 2021–Apr 13th, 2021

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 possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
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.

Regions

Banff Yoho Kootenay.

Tuesday will start with LOW hazard, but intense solar radiation and rising freezing levels will raise the hazard at lower elevations and on solar aspects during the day. Start and finish early, and avoid steep solar aspects as they warm up.

Weather Forecast

Light easterly winds continue on Tuesday with clearing skies and a mostly sunny day. Freezing levels will rise to around treeline with intense solar inputs expected at all elevations during the day. Good overnight freezes with slowly increasing freezing levels and lots of solar inputs are expected for the next several days. Springtime!

Snowpack Summary

15 to 30 cm of storm snow at treeline with more at higher elevations. Buried crusts up to 1800m on all aspects and to ridge crest on solar aspects. Small wind slabs in alpine lee areas. Several persistent layers exist in the mid to lower snowpack that might be a concern in thin areas, with significant warming or with larger triggers like cornices.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches observed Sunday or Monday. Evidence of previous loose dry avalanches in steep alpine terrain. A few cornice failures occasionally pulling slabs in steep alpine features during the storm last week. A couple avalanches were also observed a few days ago with storm snow on a buried crust so this is worth monitoring.

Confidence

The weather pattern is stable

Problems

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.

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.