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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 17th, 2022–Feb 20th, 2022

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

Regions

Waterton Lakes.

Extreme south west winds have built fresh wind slabs in lees and stripped windward aspects down to hard crust.

With additional snow and wind forecast for the weekend we expect to see an increase in avalanche activity as slabs grow bigger.

Weather Forecast

Fri: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. Moderate SW ridge top winds. Alpine temps low -4. Freezing level 1600 m.

Sat: Flurries, 6 cm accumulation. Strong SW winds. Alpine temps high -6. Freezing levels 1800m.

Sun: Flurries, 5 cm  accumulation. Light NE winds. Alpine temps high -8, low -25. Freezing levels valley bottom.

Snowpack Summary

12cm of storm has been redistributed by strong to extreme SW winds on Monday creating new wind slabs.  This overlies a crust from last weeks warm temps up to 2000m and higher on solar aspects. Well settled midpack, with facets above Dec 4 crust, buried 150-200 cm, above Nov layers.

Avalanche Summary

No recent avalanches observed. If you go out on an adventure be sure to share your experience and snowpack information on the Mountain Information Network, we really appreciate any observations.

Confidence

Due to the number of field observations

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.