Avalanche forecast

Waterton Lakes

Mar 26 – 29, 2025Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Fri
Sat
Alpine
4 · High
Treeline
4 · High
Below
3 · Considerable
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Highlights

This is a good time to avoid all avalanche terrain! We have seen a significant avalanche cycle with the past few days of warming and expect hazard to remain elevated until the snowpack starts to refreeze.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    2–3

    We are seeing increased reactivity on this layer with warming penetrating deeper into the snowpack.

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–2

    This problem will continue to be reactive until the temperature cools down.

  • Wet Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1.5–2.5

    We have seen several wet slabs over the past 2 days, reactivity will likely start tapering once temperatures cool off.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Numerous natural wet loose avalanches to size 2, several wet slab avalanches to size 2.5 and a few persistent slab avalanches to size 3 were observed on Wednesday.

Snowpack Summary

Surface snow is moist at all elevations with below treeline moist to ground. The snow surface will likely begin refreezing over the next few days. There is a robust melt freeze crust buried 30 - 80 cm deep. This crust exists everywhere except for northerly aspects above 1900 m. The January drought layer lies 50 –130 cm deep, with snow depths at treeline averaging 130–200 cm.

Weather Summary

We are at the tail end of a significant warm up, we should see temperatures start to decrease late on Thursday and then some incoming snow for the weekend. See the table below for a more detailed forecast.

Check out the Mountain Weather Forecast for the most up to date information.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Carefully manage your exposure to overhead hazards.
  • Back off slopes as the surface becomes moist or wet with rising temperatures.
  • Avoid thin areas like rocky outcrops where you're most likely to trigger avalanches on deep weak layers.

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