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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 19th, 2025–Jan 20th, 2025

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

North Rockies, McBride, Sugarbowl, Kakwa, McGregor, Pine Pass, Renshaw, Robson.

Raise your guard as you reach higher elevations with greater amounts of wind transported snow. Winds have been variable, so be ready to manage newly formed wind slabs on any aspect.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

The North Rockies field team observed a small (size 1) natural wind slab release on an east aspect at 2070 m in the Lucille area on Friday. Its crown was up to 70 cm thick, almost 3 times the height of new snow.

Snowpack Summary

A variable 5 to 25 cm of snow from this week has formed new wind slabs in exposed alpine and treeline terrain. On solar aspects, at treeline, and especially below, the new snow overlies a variety of crusts from recent warming, sun, and rain. A good bond should form where rain transitioned to snowfall in the last storm.

The uppermost crust (varies by location) is the main failure plane of concern in the region, however we continue to track early January and early December surface hoar and crust layers down 30 to 50 cm and down 80 to 130 cm, respectively. Both are considered unlikely to trigger, with limited concern for higher elevations where the capping effect of recent crusts is absent.

Weather Summary

Sunday night

Mostly clear. 20 to 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline low temperature -18 °C.

Monday

Mainly sunny. 30 to 50 km/h west ridgetop wind, increasing. Treeline high temperature -10 °C.

Tuesday

Sun, cloud and isolated flurries, up to 10 cm of new snow. 30 to 60 km/h northwest ridgetop wind, easing. Treeline high temperature -12 °C.

Wednesday

Isolated flurries, 5 to 10 cm of new snow. 30 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline high temperature -8 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind-affected terrain.
  • Recent wind has varied in direction, so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.
  • Avalanche activity is unlikely when a thick melt-freeze crust is present on the snow surface.

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.