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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Nov 20th, 2024–Nov 22nd, 2024

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

Regions

Kananaskis, Bow Valley, Highwood Pass, North 40, Spray - KLakes.

A few cms fell throughout the day but not enough to change the skiing from thin to deep! A storm is forecast to cross the region this weekend that will hopefully give us another 10-20cm. Watch for windslabs as your approach treeline and above failing at the recent snow interface or above the October crust. . Keep pushing out the MINs! We look at this content daily.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new observations on Wednesday but field teams were training for the better part of the day.

Snowpack Summary

Light snowfall throughout the day on Wednesday but only a few cm's of accumulation. Winds were lights out of the east and temperatures were cool all day!

Last weeks storm snow which varied from 20-30cm is slowly settling under the influence of the cooler temperatures. Sheers at the storm snow interface are beginning to strengthen becoming more moderate in nature. A layer to pay close attention to is the October temperature crust near ground in many areas. Along the smith Dorrien highway forecasters were seeing weak facetted crystals develop above and below this crust producing whumpfing as then travelled. As this layer takes more load (such as this weekend) we may see it become more reactive. At Highwood area the crust is thinner but the storm snow was more reactive as the upslope storm deposited more snow in this area.

Lots of uncertainty in the snowpack to start the year so be curious and dig and look and talk with your partners! Its thin.... Even a small avalanche would hurt getting carried over rocks.

Weather Summary

See image Below.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Keep your guard up as storm slabs may remain sensitive to human triggering.
  • Be cautious of buried obstacles, especially below treeline.
  • Keep in mind a buried crust offers an excellent bed surface for avalanches.

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.