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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 7th, 2016–Mar 8th, 2016

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

Regions

Little Yoho.

Ice climbers pay attention to overhead hazard and how quickly the day is warming up. Significant sluffing was observed on lower elevation ice climbs on Monday.

Weather Forecast

Tuesday should be mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. Light to moderate SW winds near ridge tops. The freezing levels will be at surface overnight and rising to 1700 m during the day. An approaching system may bring more significant snow on Thursday.

Snowpack Summary

Ten to 15 cm new snow lies  over-top of a well settled mid and lower pack. Suncrust below new snow on all aspects below 1800m and below 2300m on solar aspects. Isolated wind effect and small wind slabs near ridge-tops. No significant shears found in mid and lower pack.

Avalanche Summary

Report on Monday of a skier triggered avalanche on the Wapta near Mt. Collie. Size 2.5 on SE aspect at 2600m.

Confidence

Problems

Loose Wet

Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.

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.

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.