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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 19th, 2022–Mar 20th, 2022

Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
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

Little Yoho.

New snow and strong winds are expected to develop new wind slabs at upper elevation.

Weather Forecast

Increased snow fall Saturday night with accumulation amounts of 5-10cm by Sunday morning. Slightly cooler temps and clearing are forecasted for Sunday, this clearing trend will bring strong Westerly ridge winds.

Snowpack Summary

20-50 cm of recent snow forming fresh wind slabs in alpine and some treeline terrain with mod-strong SW winds. On solar aspects a variety of buried sun-crusts down 30-60 cm are producing moderate results in tests. In addition there is a buried temperature crust at lower elevations that exists on all aspects, and has been reactive in Kootenay Park.

Avalanche Summary

No new activity obs Saturday. Explosive control in Kootenay Park on Thursday produced small wind-slabs up to size 2.5. Of note in Simpson area is when debris hit lower elevations (1800-1600 m) it triggered new slabs down 50 cm on a suspected temperature crust. Propagations on this layer were significant and extended up to 100 m

Confidence

Problems

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.

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.