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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 16th, 2016–Mar 17th, 2016

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

Regions

Little Yoho.

Pay attention to solar warming as the sun comes out over the next few days. Stay out of the big terrain unless you've got the luck of the Irish! Happy St. Patricks Day!

Weather Forecast

Clearing skies in the forecast starting on Thursday. This should bring about a more spring-like diurnal pattern of daytime warming on solar aspects and cold overnight temperatures. Winds should be light throughout the period.

Snowpack Summary

40 - 60cm of recent, dry storm snow overlies a well settled mid and lower pack. This new snow has formed slabs that overlie several suncrusts on S and W aspects and may bond poorly in some areas. No significant shears found in the mid and lower pack, however thin snowpack areas are still suspect.

Avalanche Summary

More avalanche control today on the sunshine road produced numerous large avalanches stepping down to ground on 5 of 8 shots. These were in thin, windloaded alpine areas on all aspects and show that the deeper weak layers are still reactive. Additionally, cornices were large and easily triggered.

Confidence

Due to the number of field observations

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.

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.