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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 27th, 2016–Jan 28th, 2016

Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
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

Kananaskis.

A few new cm's of snow is forecast overnight with STRONG winds.  It is unlikely that this new snow will be enough to bump up the danger but we may see a few small pockets of windslabs develop. 

Confidence

High

Weather Forecast

Flurries.Accumulation: 6 cm.Alpine temperature: High -2 °C.Ridge wind west: 60 km/h gusting to 95 km/h.Freezing level: 1800 metres.

Avalanche Summary

A couple new slabs have occurred over past few days but only one was noteable to the forecasting staff.  A sz 2 on a NE aspect at 2400m in the Dog Leg slide path area.  This slide was 40-60m wide, failed down 40cm or so and ran 400m down into skiable terrain.  The overight wind was the likely cuplrit just adding that little bit of additional load the caused the failure.

Snowpack Summary

Little change over the past 24hrs.  Winds abated a bit but the damage is done.  The jan 6th interface is down 30-40cm and producing a variety of sheers from easy to moderate.  Overlying this interface is a hard slab that skiers need to be aware has the ability to propagate across a feature or along a ridgeline. Once this slab initiates it is likely that it will scrub the basal facets beneath this layer and cause a potentially large avalanche running farther than expected. 

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.