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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 24th, 2024–Mar 25th, 2024

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

Regions

Banff, East Side 93N, Kootenay, LLSA, Sunshine.

Travel is generally safer in deeper snowpack terrain features while avoiding thin and thick-to-thin areas. Carefully assess and monitor the amount of snow your party is traveling on.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

No recent avalanches to report.

48h ago there was a size 3, remote-triggered avalanche in the Lake Louise backcountry.

Snowpack Summary

Northerly aspect of the alpine still hold dry snow. While there is a sun crust to ridge top on solar aspects. The crust also exists on specific terrain features treeline, and below on polar aspects.

The March 20 temperature crust extends to 2100 m on all aspects and to ridge top on solar aspects.

The Feb 3rd layer is down ~ 50 -100 cm and the weak basal facets persist in thin snowpack areas.

Total snowpack depths range from 90-170 cm at treeline.

Weather Summary

Monday: Light West/NW winds, freezing levels rising to 1500m with a mix of sun and cloud. -4 C is the forecast high at 2000m.

Tuesday: Up to 2000m freezing levels, winds moderate out of the west and the potential for snowfall/convective activity in the afternoon, less than 5 cm forecast.

Click here for more weather info.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid shallow, rocky areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.

Problems

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.

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.