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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 8th, 2017–Jan 9th, 2017

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

Regions

Banff Yoho Kootenay.

The snowpack is weak, faceted and very complex. All characteristics of an old-school Rockies winter. Critical thought and nuanced decision making will be important for the rest of the season.

Weather Forecast

We are expecting up to 15mm of precip over the forecast region in the next 36 hours. The snow will be accompanied by moderate wind from the west at the 3000m level. Models also suggest that the temps will dive back to the -25 or colder range starting Tuesday afternoon.

Snowpack Summary

20-30 cm of faceted snow and wind slab sits over top of the weak December facet layer which in turn sits on the Nov 12 rain crust. This poor snow structure of firm snow over weak facets will likely be with us for some time and does not inspire confidence.

Avalanche Summary

No avalanches were observed or reported today.

Confidence

Wind effect is extremely variable

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.