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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 13th, 2023–Apr 14th, 2023

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

Regions

Glacier.

Recent storm slabs that formed at upper elevations remain rider triggerable, and have been propagating widely.

At lower elevations, loose wet avalanches will be easily triggered during the heat of the day. These can gain mass quickly as they run on a widespread crust.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

On Thursday, there were a few solar triggered slab avalanches, up to size 2.5 in the highway corridor.

On Wednesday, multiple solar triggered storm slab and loose wet avalanches up to size 3 were observed along the hwy corridor and in the backcountry. These avalanches showed wide propagation failing at the Mar 31 layer and running far into the runout zones.

Snowpack Summary

35cm of storm snow and strong, gusty SW winds recently formed a reactive storm slab, thicker in lee features. This slab is propagating and stepping down to the March 31 layer (crust on solar aspects, facet/surface hoar on polar aspects).

The mid and lower snowpack is generally strong. However, the Nov 17 basal weakness can still be found near the ground in many locations.

Weather Summary

Calm weather prevails into the weekend.

Friday: Mix of sun & cloud. Alpine Low -8°C, High -4°C, freezing level (FZL) 1800m. Light SW ridgetop winds.

Sat: Sunny periods/convective flurries. Low -6°C, High -4°C. FZL 1900m. Light SW winds.

Sun: Cloudy with scattered flurries (5cm). Low -5 °C, High -2 °C. FZL 1900m. Light gusting strong S wind.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Watch for signs of instability like whumpfing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks or recent avalanches.
  • Avoid terrain traps such as gullies and cliffs where the consequence of any avalanche could be serious.

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.

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.