Avalanche forecast

Banff Yoho Kootenay

Mar 4 – 5, 2015Parks Canada
View on map
Archived · expired 12 years ago

Avalanche danger

Wed
Thu
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low

Highlights

It is a great time to be in the alpine! Enjoy the good weather and low danger while it lasts. If you are getting into more aggressive terrain, be mindful of the potential for cornice failures and snow mushroom collapses as the temps fluctuate.

Avalanche problems

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    2–3
    The lower half of the snowpack is weak due to the presence of basal facets and depth hoar. Natural and human triggering is unlikely, but it is still a good idea to avoid steep, open, rocky slopes with shallow snow.

Weather Forecast

The drought continues. No precipitation expected in the forecast period. Temperatures are generally cold overnight (-20 to -25) and warming up to reasonable during the day (-5 to -10). We should see a gradual warming trend through the week. Winds have been light and are expected to stay light until Thurs when they will switch to moderate from the W

Snowpack Summary

Surface facetting has softened up old surfaces in the alpine making for good skiing in sheltered locations. Isolated windslabs exist in the alpine but are unreactive. The midpack is well settled, but the weak facets persist at the base of the snowpack. Suncrusts exist on solar aspects and temperature crusts exist on all aspects below 1900m.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches reported or observed today.

Confidence

Due to the number and quality of field observations

Regions covered