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

Feb 24th, 2024–Feb 25th, 2024

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

Regions

South Rockies, Crowsnest North, Crowsnest South, Elkford East, Elkford West.

The likelihood of triggering avalanches will increase as more precipitation accumulates. If you see more than 15cm of fresh snow the danger will be CONSIDERABLE in the alpine.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No recent avalanches have been reported. On Friday the field team reported seeing an older wind slab in the northern Crowsnest area. Check this MIN for details.

With significant precipitation in the forecast, the likelihood of both natural and human-triggered avalanches is expected to rise throughout the stormy period and for several of the following days.

Snowpack Summary

5 to 10 cm of new snow is expected to accumulate by the end of the day on Sunday. This new snow will be covering a sun crust on south and west-facing slopes and at lower elevations. On north and east-facing upper-elevation slopes, the new snow may be covering old wind slabs.

A widespread crust formed in early February is currently buried 30 to 60 cm. In some areas, a persistent weak layer of faceted grains has formed above and/or below the crust.The lower snowpack is generally facetted with some old melt-freeze crusts.

Weather Summary

Saturday Night

Cloudy with 2 to 6 cm of new snow, 30 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind, treeline temperature -1 °C, freezing level 1500 m.

Sunday

Cloudy with 2 to 5 cm of snow, 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind, treeline temperature -1 °C, freezing level 1500 m.

Monday

Mostly cloudy with 5 to 15 cm of snow, 10 km/h northeast ridgetop wind, treeline temperature -10 °C.

Tuesday

A mix of sun and cloud with trace amounts of snow, 5 to 10 km/h southwest ridgetop wind, treeline temperature -20 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Watch for changing conditions today, storm slabs may become increasingly reactive.
  • Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.