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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 24th, 2024–Mar 27th, 2024

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, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Waterton Lakes, Waterton.

Some areas of the park have up to 50cm of new storm snow. Pay close attention to how this new snow bonds to the crust below especially if the sun pops out in the next few days.

The persistent layer is still out there and will be most triggerable on north slopes that don't have the new crust.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Small dry loose point releases were observed during the storm.

Snowpack Summary

30-50cm of new snow overlies a new March 21st crust. Dry snow may have still existed on steep high north slopes. The Feb 3rd crust/facet persistent weak layer is buried 60-100 cm deep. Below this, the snowpack consists of a mixture of settled snow and crust/facet layers to ground. Snowpack depths between 80 - 250 cm.

Weather Summary

Mon

Partially cloudy and a chance of flurries, an alpine high near -2. Winds light to moderate NW

Tues

Cloudy and convective flurries. Alpine high near zero with light to moderate NW winds

Wed

Broken skies with a chance of flurries. Alpine high near zero with moderate to strong west winds

For more info: Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Closely monitor how the new snow is bonding to the crust.
  • Rocks will heat up with daytime warming and may become trigger points for loose wet avalanches

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.

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.