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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 10th, 2020–Dec 11th, 2020

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

Regions

Jasper.

Despite the lack of natural activity, there is a lot of new snow present.  Remember Moderate means human triggering remains possible.

Weather Forecast

Cooler temperatures, no snow, calm to light winds and mostly clear skies are forecasted for the next few days.

Snowpack Summary

40cm of storm snow from Dec 8th with moderate SW winds resulted in mainly ridgetop or exposed treeline wind slabs. The snow is settling. It overlies a variety of surfaces like hard slabs in the alpine and treeline, facets and isolated surface hoar at treeline, and crusts on steep solar aspects. The depth of the Nov 4th rain crust is 60-80cm down.

Avalanche Summary

Wednesday noted numerous loose dry natural avalanches size 1.5 on all aspects and elevations and explosive control resulted in a few slab avalanches size 2 and one size 3 on a Northeast alpine feature. Thursday's patrol noted no new avalanches and the visibility was excellent.

Confidence

Due to the number and quality of field observations

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.