Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Banff, Banff Yoho Kootenay, East Side 93N, Field, Kootenay, LLSA, Lake Louise, Little Yoho, Sunshine, West Side 93N.
"Variability" is the operative word for evaluating avalanche hazard at the moment.
The hazard, avalanche problems and conditions are heavily dependent on time of day, weather inputs, elevation and region.
If at the local level, the weather inputs are greater than expected, use an extra degree of caution in your decision-making.
Confidence
Low
Avalanche Summary
Sunshine ski hill reported skier controlled wind slab avalanches up to size 1 at ridgetop on leeward aspects. Lake Louise reported an explosive triggered old windslab size 2 out of steep terrain. No other avalanches were observed or reported.
Continued sporadic avalanches have occurred in the last week on the Feb 3rd layer, specifically around Lake Louise and on Cathedral Mountain.
Snowpack Summary
Precip amounts throughout the region have been highly variable in the last 24 hours. 10-30cm of generally moist snow has fallen in the past 48 hours and overlies moist snow below ~2200m, and crusts above. Dry snow can be found on polar aspects above ~2400m and in the high alpine.
Our main concern for persistent layers is shallow snowpack areas on northerly alpine aspects where no crusts are found in the upper snowpack and the midpack is thinner/weaker.
Weather Summary
Thurs Night: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. Light to mod winds from the East. Alpine high -4°C, freezing level valley bottom
Fri: Cloudy with sunny periods, trace precipitation. Alpine temperature high of 0°C. More cloud and precip to the East. Freezing level 2200m
Sat/Sun: Mix of sun and cloud, low of -6°C, high -2°C. Light winds switching to the West. Freezing level 2100m
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Terrain and Travel Advice
- Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
- Avoid thin areas like rock outcroppings where you're most likely to trigger avalanches failing on deep weak layers.
- Be alert to conditions that change with elevation and sun exposure.
- Dial back your terrain choices if you are seeing more than 25cm of new snow.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Previous strong to extreme south westerly wind, and recent moderate wind combined with recent snow could produce wind-slabs or buried wind-slabs in isolated lee pockets. Watch for reverse loading as the winds over the last 24hours have switched to be from the East.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2
Loose Wet
The wet loose problem will be dependent on how warm it becomes treeline and below and amount of solar. The warmer and sunnier it is at the local level, the higher the likelihood of loose wet avalanches
Possibility of dry loose avalanches in the alpine out of steep terrain and/or running on solid crusts
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Treeline, Below Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2
Persistent Slabs
The Feb 3 layer is down 65-120 cm. In shallow snowpack areas on northerly alpine aspects, this layer remains sensitive to skiers, with remote triggering observed in several instances. All the recent avalanches that initiated on this layer stepped down to the basal facets/ground.
Aspects: North, North East, North West.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 2 - 3