Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 29th, 2018–Jan 30th, 2018

Alpine

Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.

Treeline

Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

Alpine

Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.

Treeline

Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.

Below Treeline

Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.

Alpine

Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

Treeline

Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

Regions

Glacier.

With heavy snowfall and warming temps today expect a reactive storm slab and natural activity. Naturals will run far, avoid overhead hazard and stay out of avalanche runouts!

Weather Forecast

The storm pattern continues and we will see heavy snowfall accumulations the next 36 hrs. Today will be overcast with 15-20cms of snow accumulation. Ridge wind will be 25-40 km/hr from the SW and freezing level will climb to 1700m. Tonight we could see another 20 cm of snowfall with wind gusts to 85 km/hr

Snowpack Summary

13cm in past 24hrs, 60cm of settling storm snow with 160cm of snow accumulation over the past two weeks. Expect to find pockets of wind slab along ridge lines and lee features due to the moderate south winds in the Alpine. The Jan 16 surface hoar is down ~60cm, Jan 4 down ~80cm and Dec 15 down ~1m+ making for a complex sandwich of weak layers.

Avalanche Summary

There was a skier triggered a size 2 on Saturday, see Avalanche Canada Mountain Information Network (MIN) for more details. During the overnight period there was a natural cycle to size 3 with debris running well into runouts. With additional precip in the next 24 hrs, expect avalanches to continue to run full path in areas like Connaught Crk

Confidence

Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain

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.