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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 25th, 2018–Jan 26th, 2018

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

Kananaskis.

Up to 20cm of new over the past 24hrs.  Good skiing in sheltered areas but conservative choices are a must right now.  Give the new snow a few days to stabilize. 

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Winds will continue to be out of the west in the moderate range on Friday with no new snow expected.  Temperatres on Friday are expected to be around -10C in the Alpine.

Avalanche Summary

Observations were limited due to snowfalls throughout the day.  There were reports from groups in the Black prince area of avalanches up to sz 2 coming from eastern windloaded aspects.  They were suspected to be loose dry slides but running far into below treeline areas.  We suspect more avalanche occurred today but we just couldnt see them due to the obscured conditions.

Snowpack Summary

Up to 20cm of snow over the past 24hrs at treeline elevations.  Winds continue out of the west into the moderate range with occasional gusts into the strong range.  This recent snow is burying and adding additional load to the previous windslabs that were overlying a weak facetted layer known as the dec 15th down around 1m.  At treeline and below there are a few surface hoar layers of concern within the top 1m of the snowpack.  Dec 15th SH is down generally 1m, Jan 6th down around 70cm and Jan 18th down 35cm (all depths approx).  These layers are slowly becomming more reactive as successive snow loads bury them.  This is a good time to stick to conservative terrain and let the snowpack adjust to this new load.

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.

Loose Dry

Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.