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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 20th, 2021–Apr 21st, 2021

Alpine
Below Threshold.
Treeline
Below Threshold.
Below Treeline
Below Threshold.
Alpine
Below Threshold.
Treeline
Below Threshold.
Below Treeline
Below Threshold.
Alpine
Below Threshold.
Treeline
Below Threshold.
Below Treeline
Below Threshold.

Regions

Jasper.

Wednesday will be another warm day with freezing levels to 2500m. Start early and end early to avoid the heat of the heat of the day and rising avalanche danger.

Weather Forecast

Wednesday: A mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries. Precipitation: Trace. Alpine temperature: High 2 C. Ridge wind W: 15-30 km/h. Freezing level: 2400 metres.

Thursday: Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries. Precipitation: Trace. Alpine temperature: Low -13 C, High -6 C. Ridge wind NE: 10-30 km/h. Freezing level at valley bottom.

Snowpack Summary

Cold nights, helping the snowpack recovery and creating a supportive melt/freeze crust on all aspects and elevations. This crust will break down over the day, except above ~2500m where the snow is likely to remained dry for the near future. Weak faceted crystals at the bottom of the snowpack could be concern in shallow alpine snowpacks.

Avalanche Summary

A slower warming tread forecast through this week should allow for the snowpack to adjust. Sunny, exposed TL and BTL terrain rapidly losing coverage and the overall snowpack structure is weak and will collapse with very little load.

Confidence

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.

Cornices

Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.

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.