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 possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Regions
Little Yoho.
15cm of snow in the forecast for the Little Yoho region. Watch to see how the new snow is bonding, and dig down to see if the persistent layer is present and how its bonding to the snow above.
Weather Forecast
Cloudy with light snow overnight into Sunday. We should see 15+cm with West winds dipping into the moderate range. Some warming is expected early next week.
Snowpack Summary
Trace amounts of new snow in the past 24 hours. Last week's storm brought 15-40cm with moderate S and W winds creating wind slabs in the alpine. The March 15 suncrust is down 25-50cm on south-east through west aspects and has been sensitive to skier triggering over the last few days.
Avalanche Summary
In the last few days, there was a skier accidental avalanche at Sentinel Pass, and another 2.5 avalanche on the S side of Isolated Col in Little Yoho. Both avalanches were in the alpine on solar aspects, and failed on the March 15 crust persistent layer that has been sensitive to skier triggering for a couple of weeks.
Confidence
Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Sunday
Problems
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.
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.