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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 17th, 2021–Mar 18th, 2021

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

Regions

South Rockies.

Start and finish your trip early to manage another warm day on Thursday. A steady cooling trend with light precipitation will take us into the weekend.

Confidence

Moderate -

Weather Forecast

Wednesday night: Clear. Light southwest winds, moderate to strong in the alpine.

Thursday: Sunny. Light southwest winds, moderate to strong in the alpine. Alpine high temperatures around +1 with freezing levels reaching 2300 metres.

Friday: Mainly cloudy with isolated wet flurries in the alpine. Moderate to strong southwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around 0 with freezing levels to 2000 metres.

Saturday: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. Moderate to strong southwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -3 with freezing levels to 1700 metres.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches were reported on Tuesday.

On Monday there were size 1 wet loose avalanches reported in the backcountry near Castle. There were wet loose avalanches size 1-2 from throughout the region out of southerly alpine terrain reported over the weekend. Similar natural or human triggered avalanche activity can be expected during the heat of the day on Thursday.

Snowpack Summary

The alpine may be wind affected in open areas. Snow on all solar aspects and lower elevation bands will start out crusty but may start to get moist by mid morning. Reports suggest snow on northerly terrain above 1600 m has so far remained dry. Cornices are large and looming, and glide cracks are increasing in size...both should be considered unpredictable and given a wide berth.

Around 30 to 60 cm of snow sits above a layer of sugary faceted grains that were buried in mid-February. In some areas, there may be an old layer of feathery surface hoar or facets from late January down 50 to 80 cm deep. There have been no reported avalanches on either of these layers in the region since March 9th in the Crowsnest, but there is always lingering concern that consecutive days in a row of warm temperatures may increase the reactivity of deeper weak layers in isolated areas.

The mid pack is firm and well settled. Some faceted snow and a decomposing melt-freeze crust can be found near the base of the snowpack. 

Terrain and Travel

  • Back off slopes as the surface becomes moist or wet with rising temperatures.
  • Cornices become weak with daytime heating.
  • Be alert to conditions that change with aspect and elevation.

Problems

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.

Cornices

Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.