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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 28th, 2016–Mar 29th, 2016

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

Regions

Little Yoho.

With a high pressure system settling into the divide over the next few days, heating will be the critical factor to monitor. Expect a steady heating trend to increase the avalanche hazard toward the weekend.

Weather Forecast

Following the upslope precip that arrived Sunday, forecasts show a large high pressure system pushing into the divide overnight. This should bring a good freeze into Tuesday but freezing levels will quickly return to around treeline with the potential for a trace of precip. A weak freeze into Wednesday, again with a bit of precip as temps rise...

Snowpack Summary

Up to 5cm of new snow Sunday became moist to 2000m. In the top meter of the snowpack, several buried suncrusts exist and may still be a concern on west, south and east aspects but in general the snowpack is well settled. Low elevation snowpacks (Field ice climbs) are isothermal and slushy in the PM.

Avalanche Summary

One avalanche was reported on the West face of Mt. Ogden from a party coming off of the Bow-Yoho traverse Saturday . 2600m, Size 3 and approximately 1100m wide and likely failed on a crust in the previous 2-3 days. Loose wet natural activity continues to size two and skier triggering of the moist new snow over crusts was easy today at treeline

Confidence

Freezing levels are uncertain on Wednesday

Problems

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.

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.

Cornices

Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.