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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 4th, 2022–Mar 5th, 2022

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

Regions

Kananaskis.

Avalanche activity increased on Friday, and this trend could continue into the weekend. Intense solar radiation will likely make solar aspects more reactive on Saturday. Use caution in bigger Alpine terrain.

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Saturday looks to be a sunny day with light northerly winds. It will start off cool (near -18) and warm to -7 at treeline elevations. Some models are calling for light flurries late Saturday afternoon, and some are not.

Avalanche Summary

Several small loose dry avalanches were observed in steep Alpine terrain over the past few days. In addition, a few naturally triggered wind slabs up to size 2.0 occurred on all aspects in the alpine, with one running almost full path. On Thursday a size 2.0 cornice failure occurred near Hero's Knob, almost reaching a number of up-tracks in the drainage. On Wednesday forecasters remotely triggered a size 2.5 avalanche on a SE alpine bowl. This slab was 30 to 40cm thick and ran for 450m.

Snowpack Summary

Another 5cm in the last 24 hours brings recent storm snow totals to 25 to 40cm in the last few days. This recent snow remains low density below 2600m. Thin wind slabs are found in Alpine terrain, with several naturally triggered slides observed on Friday on all aspects. Solar aspects are also a concern as the Feb 19 sun crust is buried up to 40cm. This crust layer has caused several avalanches in the past few days, both natural and human-triggered.

Terrain and Travel

  • Be alert to conditions that change with elevation and wind exposure.
  • Closely monitor how the new snow is bonding to the crust.
  • Wind slabs may be poorly bonded to the underlying crust.
  • Minimize exposure to sun-exposed slopes when the solar radiation is strong.

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.