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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 19th, 2019–Apr 20th, 2019

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

Regions

Jasper.

The Icefields Parkway has opened for driving but evaluate what is open for skiing. Up to 30cm of recent heavy snow with winds has created several natural avalanches.

Weather Forecast

Clearing and cooling off for the next couple days.. A mix of sun and cloud for Saturday with an alpine high of -2 and light westerly winds. Freezing levels dropping to valley bottom Saturday night and mostly clear skies on sunday with cool temps. Winds start to pick up Sunday night as the next system pushes in.

Snowpack Summary

Moderate winds, mild temperatures and up to 30cm of new heavy snow has created widespread storm and wind slabs in the alpine and down into tree line where it was raining below with isothermal snow conditions. A persistent weak layer down 40-70cm (obscured visibility during the storm but we suspect some activity happened on this layer)

Avalanche Summary

A natural loose wet avalanche cycle below tree line up to size 2.5 and several windslabs in the alpine up to size 2.5 in the past 24 hours. Avalanche control on Highway 93 produced several wind slab avalanches up to size 2. We suspect the March persistent weak layer released with the new load but did not observe much terrain due to weather.

Confidence

Due to the number of field observations on Friday

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 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.