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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 19th, 2022–Dec 22nd, 2022

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

Regions

Waterton Lakes, Waterton.

Very cold temps for the next couple days. Prepare with extra layer and warm drinks. Plan to end your day a bit early so as not to get caught out.

Not a lot of field observations on the surface hoar that is now buried at least 30cm. Use caution and careful assessment as windslabs may propagate more dramatically if this layer exists.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

A natural cycle was observed from the road today. Several dry loose avalanches up to size 2 and one isolated size 2.5 that ran to valley bottom.

Snowpack Summary

30cm of new snow in the last week with variable winds building soft slab in standard and reverse loaded lees. This overlies the 2022-12-14 surface hoar layer and a settling midpack. Below 1900m the lower snowpack is faceted, however, no failures have been observed. We are tracking two separate unreactive crusts from early season warm-ups.

Weather Summary

Tues

Cold temps today with an alpine high of -21. Variable moderate winds and light snow through the day. Up to 10cm possible

Wed

Very cold today with an alpine high of -35. Light north winds and no significant precip expected.

Thurs

The beginning of the warm up, with alpine temps rising to -21 today. Light north winds expected.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Be carefull around freshly wind loaded features.

Problems

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.

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.