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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 21st, 2020–Mar 22nd, 2020

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Lizard-Flathead.

Clouds may temper day-time warming. Minimize exposure to cornices and steep slopes that face the sun during the warmest part of the day.

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Saturday night: Partly cloudy with brief flurries bringing a trace. Moderate northwest wind. Freezing level valley bottom.

Sunday: Mix of sun and cloud. Moderate to strong southwest wind. Freezing level 1800 m.

Monday: Scattered flurries bringing trace. Moderate to strong southwest wind. Freezing level 1800 m.

Tuesday: 5-10 cm new snow. Light southwest wind. Freezing level 1300 m.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches observed since Wednesday,when a few small loose wet avalanches and wind slabs were observed on sun-exposed slopes. They released during the heat of the day, as the snowpack was baking in the sun.

On Monday, a large avalanche was remotely triggered near Fernie, as described in this MIN. The avalanche released on the faceted grains above the melt-freeze crust described in the Snowpack Summary. 

If you decide to travel in the backcountry, consider sharing your observations with us and fellow recreationists via the Mountain Information Network (MIN) to supplement our data stream as operators are shutting down. Even just a photo of what the day looked like would be helpful.

Snowpack Summary

Sunny skies have formed a melt-freeze crust on sun-exposed slopes. The alpine consists of wind affected snow from easterly wind, so you may find small pockets of wind slabs in atypical terrain features on south to west aspects.

A layer of faceted grains overly a melt-freeze crust from early February. This layer currently sits 30 to 60 cm below the surface and has been the culprit of recent avalanche activity near Fernie.

The middle of the snowpack is generally strong, but the base of the snowpack may contain a weak layer of faceted grains that are most prominent in shallow rocky start zones with a snowpack depth of 150 cm or less.

Terrain and Travel

  • Rocks will heat up with daytime warming and may become trigger points for loose wet avalanches
  • Cornices become weak with daytime heating or solar exposure.
  • Small avalanches can have serious consequences in extreme terrain. Carefully evaluate your line for wind slab hazard before you commit to it.

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.