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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 28th, 2019–Dec 29th, 2019

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

Regions

Glacier.

The persistent slab is still lurking, be vigilant and avoid areas that have not already avalanched on the Dec 11th surface hoar.

Weather Forecast

Flurries of snow today and tonight with light SW ridge top winds, freezing level below valley bottom and an alpine high of -8. Sunday is looking similar with the freezing level rising to 1300m Sunday before falling again. Winds are due to increase from the SW on Monday.

Snowpack Summary

15cm new snow in 48hrs on top of surface hoar at treeline and a thin crust on steep solar aspects. The cold temperatures this week have weakened the top 50cm of previous storm snow. Below that it is quite stiff down to the Dec 11th surface hoar (5-12mm) which is now down 90-130cm. Early season crusts still persist in the rounding lower snowpack.

Avalanche Summary

Several natural avalanches since the pre Christmas storm were observed on all aspects running to size 3. Natural activity is now slowing.

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.