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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 15th, 2024–Mar 18th, 2024

Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.

Regions

Waterton Lakes, Waterton.

A widespread natural avalanche cycle is likely with unseasonably warm temperatures and high freezing levels. This is a good weekend to avoid avalanche terrain.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Numerous natural wet loose avalanches have been observed on solar aspects at all elevations. One natural, size 2 persistent slab avalanche was observed on Thursday, likely triggered by solar input and increasing temperatures.

Snowpack Summary

Moist surface snow all elevations on solar aspects. The Feb 3rd crust/facet persistent weak layer is buried 60-120 cm deep. Below this, the snowpack consists of a mixture of settled snow and crust/facet layers to ground. Snowpack depths between 80 - 250 cm.

Weather Summary

Sat

Clear skies with light northeast winds. Alpine temperatures staying above 0°C with alpine high of +7°C. Freezing level remains around 2800 m.

Sun

Sunny with light northerly winds. Freezing level 3500 m with an alpine high of +7°C.

Mon

Sunny with light winds. Freezing level 3400 m with an alpine high of +6°C.

For more info: Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain as temperatures increase.
  • Persistent slabs have potential to pull back to lower angle terrain.

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.

Loose Wet

Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.