Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Banff, Banff Yoho Kootenay, East Side 93N, Field, Kootenay, LLSA, Lake Louise, Little Yoho, Sunshine, West Side 93N.
Clearing skies and light wind will make for a nice day on Thursday. Keep in mind there is still uncertainty on how the persistent slab will react and triggering is still possible.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
No avalanches were observed or reported on Wednesday.
Snowpack Summary
20-40cm of storm snow has accumulated over the past 7 days at treeline that has now settled into a slab overlying a mix of weak facets, surface hoar, or sun crust on steep south aspects (ie: very weak base). 40-80 cm of total snow exists at treeline throughout the region, with up to 120 cm in loaded alpine features.
Weather Summary
The light snowfall will taper with clearing skies on Thursday. Temperatures will remain around the -20 mark at the ridge and as warm as -8 in the valley. The wind is expected to be in the light range from the SW until Friday afternoon.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Fresh snow rests on a problematic persistent slab, don't let good riding lure you into complacency.
Avalanche Problems
Persistent Slabs
Recent snow and wind loading has created slabs over a persistent weak layer of facets, buried sun crusts, or isolated pockets of surface hoar. This slab has been sensitive to natural and human triggering.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2.5