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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 1st, 2024–Apr 4th, 2024

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

Regions

Waterton Lakes, Waterton.

It's the time of year where we are transitioning from winter to spring. Forecasted warm temperatures, high freezing levels and rain/snow in the next few days have the potential to change the snowpack quickly. Hazard can change throughout the day so use caution on warm days.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

A few natural wet loose avalanches have been observed up to size 1.5 on solar aspects.

Snowpack Summary

Sun crust on solar aspects, breaking down daily with daytime warming. Consolidated dry snow on polar aspects with the March 21st down 20 - 40 cm. The Feb 3rd crust/facet weak layer is buried 60-120 cm deep. Below this, the snowpack consists of a mixture of settled snow and crust/facet layers to ground. Snowpack depths between 80 - 250 cm.

Weather Summary

Tues

Sunny with strong W winds. Freezing levels above ridgetop with a high of +10°C at treeline.

Wed

Mainly cloudy, a few rain showers or snow flurries possible. Moderate W winds. Freezing level lowering to 2000 m and temperatures around +4°C at treeline.

Thurs

Up to 10 cm of snow by Friday morning, moderate NE winds. Freezing level dropping to valley bottom.

For more info: Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • The more the snow feels like a slurpy, the more likely loose wet avalanches will become.
  • Watch for unstable snow on specific terrain features, especially when the snow is moist or wet.

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.