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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 23rd, 2021–Jan 24th, 2021

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

Regions

Jasper.

Good quality turns can be found in sheltered areas below tree line. Despite the Moderate rating in the alpine, human triggering remains possible. Assess conditions if encountering avalanche paths, start zones, terrain traps, and overhead hazards.

Weather Forecast

A high pressure system will continue the next 4 days to provide mostly clear skies, light South to Southwest winds, no new snow, frigid overnight temperatures rising to -15 to -10C by late afternoon. 

Snowpack Summary

Frigid temperatures is creating surface facets. Previous strong to extreme winds have stripped snow from all exposed terrain creating a lot of hard wind slabs and wind affected snow in open terrain below treeline to the alpine. The midpack is supportive. Decomposing surface hoar is found down 40cm to 80cm in isolated sheltered locations.

Avalanche Summary

Saturday's Icefield patrol observed only a couple of avalanches 48-72 hours old. One windslab on the slopes across from Wilcox campground on the West side of the highway and two size 2's thin windslabs on Athabasca glacier triggered by a piece of falling ice. Nothing more recent noted. 

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Confidence

Due to the number of field observations

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.