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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 22nd, 2023–Apr 23rd, 2023

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

Regions

Little Yoho.

A low pressure system will affect the region Sunday and Monday and may lead to an uptick in the avalanche hazard.

Watch for instabilities in the recent snow, particularly as it sits over buried crusts.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

A skier triggered a sz 2 slab on a steep N aspect in the alpine near Emerald Lake on Saturday and others reported touchy moist snow above the temperature crusts on Friday.

Snowpack Summary

Almost daily accumulations of new snow are competing with new sun crust formation on solar aspects with multiple buried crusts present in the upper snowpack. On northerly aspects, up to 40cm of recent snow remains preserved with buried temperature crusts as high 2200m. The basal snowpack remains weak in shallow locations with facets and depth hoar.

Weather Summary

A cold front approaches the region Sunday afternoon. 2-5mm of rain below 1900mm with freezing levels rising to 2000- 2200m. Winds will increase to 30 to 40km/hr SW.

Overnight freezing levels only drop to around 1700m with overcast skies as winds will decrease to 20-30km/h. This will lead to less crust recovery than has been seen for several days.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avalanche hazard may have improved, but be mindful that deep instabilities are still present.
  • Cornice failures could trigger very large and destructive avalanches.
  • Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.

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.