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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 11th, 2017–Apr 12th, 2017

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

Little Yoho.

Spring squalls may bring local variations in new snow amounts. If you are seeing more new snow than forecasted in your areas, the danger may be elevated!

Weather Forecast

Unsettled spring weather could bring as much as 5-10 cm of new snow on Wednesday with light SE winds and temperatures remaining cool. Freezing levels are forecast to stay below 1900m.  Thursday could see another 5-10 cm of snow with freezing levels rising to ~ 2100m. Friday should bring a drying trend as a ridge builds over the coast.

Snowpack Summary

Up to 30cm of snow has fallen in the last several days above 2000m. At lower elevations the snowpack is moist on solar aspects while the upper elevation snow remains cold. There is still some uncertainty surrounding the weaker basal facets in thin snowpack areas of the Little Yoho region with occasional sudden collapse test results in the facets.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches were observed or reported on Tuesday, but field teams were not in the Little Yoho area.

Confidence

Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain on Thursday

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.

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.