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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

May 2nd, 2019–May 3rd, 2019

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

Regions

Jasper.

Good skiing can be found in sheltered cooler locations. Monitor the increasing wind effects Friday afternoon yet forecasters don't expect it to be enough to change the overall hazard outlook.

Weather Forecast

The next three days will be a mix of clouds, flurries, maybe 5-10cm of snow, generally light winds, and freezing level hovering around 2000m with little overnight freeze. Winds may increase to strong Westerly in the alpine on Friday but will quickly subside later in the day.

Snowpack Summary

10cm-25cm low density dry snow (elevation dependant) covers widespread wind effect from previous N winds, overlying crusts and facets in upper snowpack. The crusts are bridging on solar aspects. Occasional whumpfing at upper TL and in the ALP. Snowpack structure is generally faceted on polar aspects and weak in shallow areas.

Avalanche Summary

A team in the Columbia Icefields on Wednesday did not observe any new avalanches. To the South of our region (Bow Summit), 2 large (size 2 - 2.5) persistent slabs were remotely triggered on alpine SW aspects Tuesday.

Confidence

Wind effect is extremely variable on Friday

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.

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.