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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 25th, 2024–Feb 26th, 2024

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

Regions

South Rockies, Crowsnest North, Elkford East, Elkford West.

UPDATED 7:33

Avoid avalanche terrain

Storm snow and strong wind may be forming touchy slabs.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No recent avalanches have been reported. On Friday the field team reported seeing an older wind slab in the northern Crowsnest area. Check this MIN for details.

With significant precipitation and strong wind in the forecast, the likelihood of both natural and human-triggered avalanches is expected to rise throughout the stormy period.

Snowpack Summary

5 to 15 cm of new snow is expected to accumulate by the end of the day on Monday.

This new snow will add to the previous storm snow totals of around 5 to 10 cm, and are currently overlying a sun crust on south and west-facing slopes and at lower elevations. East of the Continental Divide, south and west faces may be stripped to ground or an old crust.

On north and east-facing upper-elevation slopes, the new snow is expected to be building into thick and reactive new slabs.

A widespread crust formed in early February is currently buried 30 to 60 cm. In some areas, a persistent weak layer of faceted grains has formed above and/or below the crust.The lower snowpack is generally facetted with some old melt-freeze crusts.

Weather Summary

Sunday Night

Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of new snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 1600 m.

Monday

Mostly cloudy with 4 to 8 cm of snow. 10 to 15 km/h variable ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.

Tuesday

A mix of sun and cloud. 5 to 15 km/h westerly ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -15 °C.

Wednesday

Cloudy with 3 to 10 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • As the storm slab problem gets trickier, the easy solution is to choose more conservative terrain.
  • Storm snow and wind is forming touchy slabs. Use caution in lee areas in the alpine and treeline.
  • Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.

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.