Avalanche forecast

Waterton Lakes

Mar 18 – 20, 2014Parks Canada
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Avalanche danger

Wed
Thu
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
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Highlights

New snow on top of crusts and rain soaked snow are adding to an already complex snowpack. The hazard will be higher on South facing slopes if there is significant solar radiation Tue. Hazard will also increase Wed depending on snowfall amounts.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Previous windslabs are lurking just under the surface and now there is a lot of snow available for transport to start building new ones.

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–2
    The 30-40cm of snow from the last few days is sitting on crusts or moist snow that could provide a poor bond. Daytime heating could trigger these instabilities on south facing aspects but they may persist on cooler north aspects for a few days.

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    1–3
    The chance of triggering the deep weak layers from early February are diminishing but these layers have not completely disappeared. Any slope that have not slid should be suspect for possible large destructive avalanches.

Weather Forecast

After receiving 30-40cm over the last 48hr the snowfall will taper off tonight. Tue will be a bit of a lull but then the next system arrives on Wed with possibly another 25cm by Fri. Temperatures will be cooler, with daytime highs in the -5 to 10 ranger. Winds will return to the Waterton 'normal' of strong westerlies for the forecast period.

Snowpack Summary

Sundays rain left moist snow and crust that are now 30-40 under the surface. Below 1900 there is a complex of crusts and moist snow 40-45cm thick. Above 1900m the crusts are more discrete, with dry snow in between. The Feb facet layer is still persistent, down 70-180cm and could still be reactive in places that have not already gone.

Avalanche Summary

Not much avalanche activity has been seen Sun/Mon because of poor visibility. A long audible avalanche was heard off the back of Cameron Lake on Mon. This was likely the storm snow running on the Mar 14 melt freeze crust.

Confidence

Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain on Wednesday

Regions covered