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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 5th, 2018–Feb 6th, 2018

Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.

Regions

Kananaskis.

Avoid avalanche terrain. A large-scale avalanche cycle is on-going.

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Tuesday will be mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. Ridge-top winds will be from the west at 25 km/h and a high of -13 C. Another storm will bring up to 25cm of new snow late Wednesday and into Thursday.

Avalanche Summary

A large-scale natural avalanche cycle occurred in the past 24hrs on all aspects in the Alpine up to size 3.5. A few slabs up to size 2.0 also initiated at Treeline. Smaller loose dry avalanches were widespread across all Treeline and Alpine terrain today. Explosives control work today on EEOR produced size 2.0 avalanches.

Snowpack Summary

Another 15cm of new snow brings recent storm snow totals to between 50 and 60cm. This has fallen with relatively little wind effect in the southern part of the forecast area, but more wind effect is evident up north. In the Alpine fresh wind slabs have formed on all aspects. A large natural avalanche cycle occurred over the last 24hrs associated with these fresh wind slabs. In some cases, avalanches stepped down to deeper weak layers such as the Jan 6 surface hoar and the Dec 15 surface hoar/sun crust/facet layer, producing large to very large avalanches. Forecasters continue to monitor multiple buried weak layers between 50 and 150cm down into the snowpack. In addition, the November crusts layers have recently become active in a few isolated avalanches in shallow snowpack areas.

Problems

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.

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.