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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Nov 5th, 2020–Nov 6th, 2020

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

Regions

Banff Yoho Kootenay.

New wind slabs in the alpine need time to settle and bond to previous layers. Avoid steep wind loaded terrain for a couple days. At treeline and below, early season hazards like thinly buried trees and rocks are present and require careful travel.

Weather Forecast

A clearing trend over night on Thursday should result in a mostly clear, cool day on Friday with light NW winds and temperatures between -12 and 0C.

Snowpack Summary

Up to 27mm of rain in the past 24 hrs at 2000m with freezing levels dropping from ~2500m to valley bottom on Thursday. At treeline the snow pack ranges from 30-60cm deep with 3-8cm of new snow over a 2 cm rain crust and moist snow to ground.  Expect 30 to 40cm of recent snow above 2500m with extreme S-SW winds creating wind slabs and new cornices.

Avalanche Summary

A few new natural avalanches observed Thursday up to size 2 out of steep gullies. We suspect the triggers were either cornice failures or wind slabs but the weather made for very limited observations. Some wet loose avalanches observed in steep treeline gullies.

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.