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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 19th, 2021–Apr 20th, 2021

Alpine
Below Threshold.
Treeline
Below Threshold.
Below Treeline
Below Threshold.
Alpine
Below Threshold.
Treeline
Below Threshold.
Below Treeline
Below Threshold.
Alpine
Below Threshold.
Treeline
Below Threshold.
Below Treeline
Below Threshold.

Regions

Glacier.

A strong crust recovery will give some extra travel time on slopes exposed to solar radiation today, however expect that crust to break down as the day progresses.

Weather Forecast

A return to high pressure today will see freezing levels begin to rise, but not as high as seen this past weekend.

Today: Sunny. Freezing levels rise to 1800m. Wind NW-15km.

Tonight: Clear. Freezing level 500m. Winds calm.

Tuesday: Sunny with cloudy periods. Freezing level 2100m. Winds calm.

Snowpack Summary

The alpine temperature inversion broke down yesterday and a solid surface crust is expected to be capping a moist snowpack BTL and the upper snowpack on solar aspects TL and above. N aspects are still holding dry snow in the alpine. The April 7th layer is down 20-40cm depending on aspect and elevation, and the March 18th crust is down 60-100cm.

Avalanche Summary

Explosives control Saturday afternoon yielded good results with numerous large wet slab and loose wet avalanches from steep SE through W aspects. Thursday and Friday afternoon saw a large natural avalanche cycle to sz 3.5 initiating from solar start zones at all elevations.

Confidence

Problems

Loose Wet

Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.

Cornices

Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.