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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 18th, 2019–Dec 19th, 2019

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

Regions

Kananaskis.

Widespread wind slabs in the alpine. Evaluate alpine terrain carefully as hard wind slabs can propagate into avalanches.

Confidence

Moderate -

Weather Forecast

Another windy day forecast for Thursday with strong westerlies. Temperature in the alpine will hover around -10c along with a few flurries starting later in the day. Weather models are indicating upwards of 30+cm of snow for Friday and Saturday.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches observed.

Snowpack Summary

The valley bottom is still challenging travel due to the minimal amounts of snow. At 2200m, there is about 100cm of snow at the most, of which the bottom 60cm is comprised of facets. . Somewhere around 2350m, the snowpack increases a bit and has a supportive midpack. This midpack was mostly formed by the numerous winds slabs that have bonded over the last few weeks. The wind has been blowing strong from the West for three days, depositing a solid wind slab on the surface in most of the alpine. Please watch the bulletin closely over the next few days as the forecast snow on Friday and Saturday will most likely increase the avalanche danger to High.

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.