Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Excellent spring conditions. However, expect loose and moist avalanches to occur in the afternoon over the coming days. Start early, finish early.
Weather Forecast
Clear and calm conditions are forecasted for the region. However, towards midweek the freezing level will start to rise considerably during the day.
Snowpack Summary
Supportive crust on solar aspects with 5cm of recent storm snow above 2200m. Previous wind effect in alpine areas. Mid pack is well settled with no significant shears. The basal facets remain the main weakness in the snowpack, but we expect only large loads or a dramatic rise in temperatures to cause failures on this layer.
Avalanche Summary
No avalanches observed or reported today.
Problems
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.