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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 20th, 2014–Feb 21st, 2014

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

Regions

Jasper.

Pay attention to changes in the snow as you approach treeline and travel through the lower alpine where terrain features have slabs on their lee aspect.

Weather Forecast

Light snow flurries may sporadically spread 5 - 10cm over the forecast area overnight. Cloudy skies and occasional flurries will continue through the weekend with a clearing trend beginning on Monday. This could arrive earlier or stall for a few extra days of clouds.

Snowpack Summary

Light snow flurries overnight did not add much load to the snowpack. There is about 30cm overtop of the Feb 10 interface which has surface facets and surface hoar from the previous cold weather. This seems to be most prevalent from treeline into the lower alpine elevations. Below tree line there is a supportive yet shallow mid-pack over facets.

Avalanche Summary

No new natural avalanches were observed in the icefields area today. Wednesday's patrol in the Maligne area produced a size 2 slab that was :35m wide, 60m long, on a NE aspect 38 degree slope just above treeline on the Feb 10 surface hoar/facet layer. Stability tests showed moderate sudden planar/sudden collapse on this layer.

Confidence

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.

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.