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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 19th, 2016–Feb 20th, 2016

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

Regions

Jasper.

Cooling temperatures and clear skies will make for great ice climbing conditions. Continue to be vigilant for windslabs lurking in recently loaded terrain such as gullies and ridge crests - human triggered avalanches are still possible.

Weather Forecast

Cooling trend through the weekend, with freezing levels dropping to 900m with good recovery overnight with lows of -15C. Clear skies through the weekend with light to moderate Southwest winds. No new snow on the horizon until Sunday night, with only light flurries amounting to less than 5cm.

Snowpack Summary

Moderate SW winds have built wind slab at tree-line and above. These slabs may be up to 40cm thick. The mid-pack consists of buried wind and persistent slab with a failure plane down 60cms. In the valley bottom the snowpack is very week and unconsolidated making for tough trail breaking.

Avalanche Summary

Isolated loose dry slides to size 2.5 were observed out of steep rocky rocky terrain on solar aspects in the alpine on Friday.

Confidence

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.