Avalanche forecast

Waterton Lakes

Jan 9 – 12, 2015Parks Canada
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Archived · expired 12 years ago

Avalanche danger

Fri
Sat
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

We emerge from the latest storms and avalanche cycle with a bit more confidence in the snowpack but are still wary of high elevation and shallow snowpack areas. Surface crusts have hurt the ski quality below treeline.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    2–3
    Continue to watch for this layer which has proven to be extremely variable. Areas where these slabs are thin may should raise added caution.

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Where there are no surface crusts these slabs may remain available for triggering particularly where they have been influenced by the wind.

Weather Forecast

Warming up and strong SW winds for Fri with a strong temperature inversion. Clouding over with temperatures dropping to the minus teens range for Saturday. Winds will drop off on Sunday becoming light from the NE. A trace of snow on Saturday and Sunday but not more than a few a few centimeters.

Snowpack Summary

The 25 to 50cm storm slabs are now capped by a variety of crusts below treeline and on solar aspects and have been influenced by variable winds. The Dec 13 crust is now 60 to 120cm deep and continues to produce planar shears within the facets above the crust.

Avalanche Summary

Warm temperatures and strong winds induced a widespread cycle of storm slabs on all aspects and elevations Wednesday. Some of these events ran from ridge crest to valley bottom however with our first look around today we saw no evidence of activity on the persistent weak layer. There have however, been reports of activity on the PWL from neighbors.

Confidence

Due to the number of field observations

Regions covered