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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 25th, 2022–Jan 26th, 2022

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

Regions

Banff Yoho Kootenay.

Lots of good skiing in sheltered areas. Remember to consider the persistent layers if venturing into bigger terrain.

Weather Forecast

A relatively benign period of weather through Thursday with mixed sun and cloud, no precip, and freezing levels near valley bottoms. Winds are NW in moderate range.

Snowpack Summary

Wind effect and wind slabs in the alpine and exposed tree-line areas. New suncrusts steep solar. 20 to 40 cm of recent snow lies over a facet interface formed in late December. The Dec2 crust and facets are generally 60-100cm deep and continue to produce results in snowpack tests. Some thin snowpack areas have lingering basal depth hoar and facets.

Avalanche Summary

A size three cornice triggered avalanche was observed on the east face of Carnarvon (above Hamilton Lakes in Yoho Park). This stepped down to a deeper persistent layer, which illustrates that big triggers or "hitting the sweet spot" can still produce large avalanches.

Confidence

Wind speed and direction is uncertain on Friday

Problems

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.

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.