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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 9th, 2023–Mar 12th, 2023

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

Regions

Waterton Lakes, Waterton.

Looks like we are transitioning to spring....maybe. Warming temps require a re-evaluation of the snowpack as it adjusts to this change.

Confidence

Low

Avalanche Summary

Few natural dry loose observed from the road today to size 1.

Snowpack Summary

Up to 20cm of settling snow sits on hard surfaces including old windslab. The January melt freeze crust is now buried 50-100cm. Alpine and Treeline midpack is well settled and overlies basal facets and depth hoar. Below treeline, the Jan Crust overlies facets and depth hoar to ground.

Weather Summary

Friday

Alpine temps -15 under overcast skies. Light snow up to 10cm with moderate E winds

Saturday

Temps rise to -5 in the alpine under cloudy skies. Trace precip with moderate E winds

Sunday

Temps rise again to -3 in the alpine under broken skies. Winds moderate SW

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.

Loose Dry

Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.