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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 9th, 2022–Dec 10th, 2022

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

Regions

South Rockies, Bull, Crowsnest North, Crowsnest South, Elkford East, Elkford West.

Freshly formed wind slabs may be reactive in the alpine and at treeline. Weaker layers can still be found further down in the snowpack.

Keep your terrain choices conservative and assess conditions as you travel and you should be able to enjoy the new snow.

Confidence

Low

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches reported in the area. This could be due to a lack of observations. If you head into the backcountry, support your community by submitting a report to the Mountain Information Network.

Snowpack Summary

Up to 10 cm fell Thursday night. It came with moderate to strong westerly winds and is expected to form fresh wind slabs. The new snow and new wind slabs are covering a variety of surfaces, mainly older wind slabs. These were made by winds produced from all directions. It is expected that the wind has built wind slabs upon wind slabs in some areas while in other areas the wind will have stripped away the majority of the snow.

Where the wind had less of an impact on the snow you can expect to find around 10 to 20 cm of soft snow sitting on 30 to 40 cm of more settled snow. Buried 45 to 65 cm down lies a weak layer comprising of surface hoar and facets. This layer has been shown to be reactive in snowpack tests. Further down the snow is sugary and faceted with a rain crust near the ground but this lower snowpack appears to be consolidating.

Total snowpack depths at treeline elevations are 75 to 145 cm.

Weather Summary

Friday Night

Cloudy with some clearing, 2 to 4 cm accumulation, winds southwest 15 to 20 km/h, freezing level to the valley bottom.

Saturday

Cloudy with some sunny periods, 2 cm accumulation, winds southwest 15 km/h gusting to 30, freezing level to 800 m.

Sunday

Mostly cloudy, up to 7 cm accumulation, winds east 10 km/h, freezing level to 500 m.

Monday

Cloudy with sunny periods, trace accumulation, winds northeast 10 km/h, freezing level to valley bottom.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Back off if you encounter whumpfing, hollow sounds, or shooting cracks.
  • If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
  • Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.

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.