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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 8th, 2021–Jan 9th, 2021

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

Regions

Little Yoho.

Conditions are improving, but there are a number of weak layers in the snowpack that still make triggering larger avalanches possible at treeline and above.

Weather Forecast

The inversion breaks down on Saturday with alpine temperatures in the -12C range. Expect more clouds and only a trace of snow during the day. Winds will be mainly light increasing in the afternoon.

On Sunday winds will pick up into the strong range from the SW with a few cm expected. More light snow expected early next week.

Snowpack Summary

Recent storm snow totals are 20-50 cm at treeline. This sits on a spotty stellar/surface hoar layer in some locations. Wind effect in open areas in the alpine. Two weak layers from early Dec persist 50-100 cm down. These have been generally unreactive but still giving hard sudden planar results.

Avalanche Summary

No new activity today in Little Yoho. East of the divide, one notable size 2 skier remote on Mt. Hector South at treeline yesterday that was likely on one of the persistent layers in the snowpack. This shows that it is still possible to trigger in the right (or wrong) location.

Confidence

Due to the number of field observations

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.

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.