Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
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
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
The cooler temps are maintaining the fantastic ski quality. Use caution on solar aspects where the recent snow is reactive to skier triggering on buried crusts.
Weather Forecast
1-2cm on Thursday with light winds which will shift to the East early in the day. Temperatures will remain unseasonably cool until the weekend.
Snowpack Summary
Last weeks storm brought 15-40cm with moderate S and W winds creating wind slabs in the alpine. The March 15 suncrust is down 25-50cm on south-east through west aspects and has been sensitive to skier triggering over the last few days. The mid- pack basal layers have been dormant for the past while.
Avalanche Summary
There was a skier remote size 2 just outside Lake Louise ski area boundary on an East to SE aspect yesterday. This avalanche failed on a buried suncrust down 20-40 cm and occurred in the afternoon. No other avalanche activity observed today.
Confidence
Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Saturday
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.
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.