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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 4th, 2020–Dec 5th, 2020

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

Regions

Kananaskis.

Steady as she goes. Not much changing till the high pressure overhead moves on. Windslabs are stiff and if they fail from a thin area they will likely propagate across a terrain feature. Be thinking about consequences as you travel. Below treeline is rugged....

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Saturdays looking pretty similar to most other day this week. Clear, blue and a temperature inversion with the warmer air aloft. Unfortunately no new snow until the high pressure ridge over top of us beings to break down. Looking like Monday for that one to start....

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanche activity observed.

Snowpack Summary

Alpine areas have been heavily affected by the past week of strong winds and wind slabs are widespread at tree line and above. Ridges and ribs are stripped free of snow while lee and cross-loaded terrain have deep deposits of wind loaded snow. The November crust is down 30-100cm and is producing anywhere from moderate to no results. Moist snow has been seen on steep solar aspects...So watch for another crust to get buried into the future.

Terrain and Travel

  • Watch for areas of hard wind slab on alpine features.
  • Approach lee and cross-loaded slopes with caution.

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.