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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Nov 30th, 2019–Dec 1st, 2019

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Glacier.

Cold temps and short days could turn even a minor injury into a serious situation. Start early, finish early, and make conservative decisions later in the day.

Weather Forecast

Ongoing cold and dry conditions today with an alpine high of -7C, an overnight low of -11C (-17 in the valley bottoms) and light easterly ridge crest winds. Freezing levels will remain well below valley bottom.  A warming trend begins on Sunday as the arctic ridge starts to break down.

Sunset time is currently 15:51hrs, plan accordingly.

Snowpack Summary

Cold temps are facetting the upper snowpack. Previous strong Northerly winds have redistribute last weekend's storm snow, watch for reverse loading. The main layer to watch for was buried during last weekends storm (Nov 23rd) - Surface Hoar treeline and below, and a crust on solar aspects into the alpine (widesrpead below 1600m) - buried 25-40cm.

Avalanche Summary

One size 2.5 slab avalanche came out of MacDonald Gulley 2 Thursday running half way down the runout zone. No new avalanches reported in the backcountry.

Confidence

Due to the number and quality 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.