The strong March sun, beating down on steep solar aspects, may be the natural trigger to start an avalanche above you. With freezing levels beginning to rise, now is the time to start and finish your day early.
Weather Forecast
It is mid-March and the sun is packing a strong punch. Today, the forecast is sunny with cloudy periods, alpine high of -9*C, and light westerly ridge-top winds. Expect more clouds Thursday, along with moderate SW winds. Today and tomorrow, freezing levels should rise in the afternoon to 1200m.
Snowpack Summary
Roughly 50cm of snow has fallen at tree-line over the last week. Moderate winds and mild temp's have created a cohesive soft slab which sits on a plethora of old surfaces including; sun crusts on solar aspects; hard wind slab in exposed areas; and surface facets in sheltered locations.
Avalanche Summary
A natural avalanche in the highway corridor yesterday. Numerous natural avalanches from sz 1.5 to 3 were observed from Macdonald and Tupper in most of their paths. All 13 explosive charges produced sz 2-2.5 avalanches on Fidelity, Fortitude, and Cutbank. Field teams were able to ski control sz 1 soft slabs on convexities at tree-line.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.
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.