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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 7th, 2021–Jan 8th, 2021

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 unlikely, human triggered possible.
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

Little Yoho.

Clear weather revealed a few examples of fresh avalanche activity resulting from the winds and new snow over the last few days. Consider the potential for human triggering as  this new snow stabilizes.

Weather Forecast

A ridge became well established today with mainly clear skies, light winds and near -10 at treeline. Be aware of the potential for an alpine temperature inversion Friday as the ridge persists with little change into the weekend. Expect winds to pick up for Sunday.

Snowpack Summary

5-10 cm on Wed brings recent storm snow totals to 20-50 cm at treeline. This sits on a spotty stellar/surface hoar layer in some sheltered locations. Wind effect in open areas at treeline and in the alpine. Two weak layers from early Dec persist 50-100 cm down. These have been generally unreactive but still giving hard sudden planar results

Avalanche Summary

Evidence of isolated wind slabs up to size 2, 5 to 30cm deep in the last 24- 48hrs resulting from cornice failures and wind-generated sluffs in steep alpine lee terrain. Several loose dry avalanches to size 1.5 were also observed during the day in steep solar terrain. A few of these ran over yesterday's up-tracks in Chickadee slide paths.

Confidence

Due to the number of field observations

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.

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.