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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 25th, 2014–Mar 26th, 2014

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

Regions

Northwest Coastal.

Confidence

Fair - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

Overnight and Wednesday: Moderate Easterly winds overnight combined with flurries and cool temperatures. Strong outflow winds during the day with freezing levels close to valley bottoms.Thursday: Continued flurries and cool temperatures combined with moderate Easterly outflow winds.Friday: A chance of some sunny periods in the afternoon. Freezing levels below 500 metres.

Avalanche Summary

Some small size 1.0-1.5 wind slab avalanches were reported due to strong Easterly outflow winds transporting snow.

Snowpack Summary

Strong Easterly winds have been reported to have caused intense wind transport of the recent storm snow, developing pockets of wind slab on various aspects in the alpine and at treeline. Forecast cool temperatures are not expected to promote much settling or bonding of the near surface layers, and probably not much change to the persistent weak layers. The deeply buried persistent weak layers continue to provide moderate to hard sudden planar results in snow profile tests, but may be deep enough to require a heavy load for triggering. The March weak layer is a combination of hard wind-scoured slab surfaces in exposed terrain, facets and/or surface hoar in sheltered and north aspects, and sun crust on steep solar aspects. This layer is widespread throughout the forecast region and is now buried close to 150cm in most parts of the area. A late January/early February crust/facet/surface hoar combo is now buried 200 cm or more.

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.

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.

Deep Persistent Slabs

Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.