Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Forecasters are uncertain about the daytime high tomorrow. The snow will likely be frozen in the early morning and will deteriorate quickly in the afternoon. EXPECT to observe an avalanche cycle tomorrow afternoon. Be home early!
Weather Forecast
The freezing level is expected to rise significantly on Wednesday afternoon. Expect the heat to initiate a major avalanche cycle. It could be quite frozen Wednesday morning with a lower danger rating, but things will deteriorate by 1pm. Additionally, a system is moving in on Friday that will bring cold temps and light snowfall.
Snowpack Summary
All areas of the park have a strong melt-freeze crust up to about 2400 meters, slightly bit lower on north aspects. Above that, dry snow persists with up to 10cm of settled powder in shaded areas and moist snow in the afternoon on solar aspects. Isolated, small windslabs exist in leeward areas in the alpine.
Avalanche Summary
Loose wet avalanches we observed in the Moraine Lake area today up to size 2 on solar aspects.
Confidence
Freezing levels are uncertain on Wednesday
Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.
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.