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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 30th, 2014–Jan 31st, 2014

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

Regions

Kananaskis.

Large avalanches are still a real possibility in terrain that has not already gone through a cycle. High consequence, low probability is the phrase of the week.

Confidence

Good

Weather Forecast

High pressure is here for the next while. Moderately cold temperatures with minimal daytime warming for tomorrow. No new snow and light winds at al elevations. Thin cloud for most of the day.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches

Snowpack Summary

4cm's overnight has added a new surface layer. The surface hoar noted in past days is now buried and preserved in isolated areas. The mid pack is surprisingly well settled with an average of 80cm's of dense wind packed snow. Below this, the facets are still present with the usual depth hoar making up the bottom 5cm's. Stability tests today gave a compression test moderate(16), sudden collapse on the depth hoar layer. The take away from this test is two fold. The density of the overlying snow (and its inherent ability to propagate) and the failure at the base of the snowpack. A bad combination.

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.

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind 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.