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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 14th, 2019–Dec 15th, 2019

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

Regions

Glacier.

Small avalanches will be easy to trigger in steep terrain. Throw in a ski cut at the top of your run, and be prepared to manage your sluff.

Weather Forecast

A "slack flow" will continue to give a mix of sun and cloud, light winds and cool temps through the weekend.

Saturday: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. Precip: Trace. Treeline temps: High -10 °C. Light SW ridge wind.

Sunday: Mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries. TL temps: Low -15 °C, High -14 °C, light SW ridge wind.

Snowpack Summary

Up to 15cm of new snow now buries the Dec 11 surface hoar layer. This new snow, combined with light southerly wind, is building pockets of soft storm slab in the Alpine. The Nov 23rd surface hoar/crust/facet combo is down +/-100cm and is becoming more stubborn in tests, but continues to show it's potential to propagate well once triggered.

Avalanche Summary

There were several size 2 natural avalanches in the MacDonald gullies yesterday, as well as MIN reports of easily triggered sluffs on all aspects and small skier controlled storm slabs in the Alpine on a North aspect.

Confidence

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.

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.