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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 17th, 2019–Dec 18th, 2019

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, human triggered possible.

Regions

Kananaskis.

 Wind slabs in the alpine with the strong westerly winds.  

Confidence

High - We have a good understanding of the snowpack structure and confidence in the weather forecast

Weather Forecast

Wednesday is another windy day with strong westerly winds, temperatures between -4c and -6c in the alpine, along with light flurries. There is a hint of snow coming for Friday. Stay tuned!!!

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches observed today.

Snowpack Summary

There is not a whole lot of snow in the valley bottoms and it is mostly faceted out and not very supportive, thus making travel a wee bit challenging. At 2200m, there is about 80-100cm of snow at the most, of which the bottom 60cm is comprised of facets. This facet interface is something that one should keep an eye out for when we get more loading on it. Somewhere around 2350m, the snowpack increases a bit and has a more supportive midpack. This midpack was mostly formed by the numerous winds slabs that have bonded over the last few weeks. The wind is continuing to blow strong from the West, thus stripping the windward slopes once again and laying down another wind slab in most of the alpine. Let's hope that the snow forecast for Friday will come.

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.