Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 11th, 2018–Jan 12th, 2018

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

Jasper.

A bit of new snow has given the wind something to push around resulting in the first first real avalanche activity in the region for several weeks. Be on your game for the weekend: watch for increasing west winds and rising temperatures.

Weather Forecast

A ridge will reach the coast Friday and bring warmer, moist air to the region through the weekend.  Watch for light west winds Friday to bring clouds but rising temperatures reaching a high of -10C in the Alpine. Temperatures will reach -6C on Saturday with a chance of a few flurries however watch for West winds to increase to 20-30km/h.

Snowpack Summary

Up to 15cm of recent snow has blown into thin windslabs TL and above. Old slabs 10-20cm deeper sit on a weak layer of facets or surface hoar TL and above. In sheltered areas this new snow sits a faceted upper snowpack at all elevations. A strong mid snowpack crust is providing strength but weakening. The lower snowpack continues to lose strength.

Avalanche Summary

Numerous sz 1 loose dry sluffs were seen spilling off of alpine ridges. A sz 2 slab avalanche 20cm deep and 50m wide likely failed on the Dec 18 persistent layer. This shallow slab ran a few meters before stepping down another 40 cm (likely through weak facets to the November 27 midpack crust). This ran 70m to a cliff triggering a small slab below.

Confidence

Due to the number of field observations

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.

Loose Dry

Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.