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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 28th, 2018–Jan 29th, 2018

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

Regions

Glacier.

The snowpack is complex, with multiple weak layers stacking up. Conservative terrain choices are essential as a large winter storm approaches and natural avalanche occurrences will increase.Human triggering of avalanches remains likely.

Weather Forecast

Cloud with snow starting late this morning, up to 8cm of accumulation today and 10cm tonight. Alpine high of -6, winds from the south 20km/hr. Freezing levels expected to rise up to 1600m Monday as the atmospheric river pushes inland with 60cm of snow by Tuesday morning.

Snowpack Summary

10cm in past 24hrs, 60cm of settling storm snow with 160cm of snow accumulation over the past two weeks. Expect to find pockets of wind slab along ridge lines and lee features due to the moderate south winds in the Alpine. The Jan 16 surface hoar is down ~60cm, Jan 4 down ~80cm and Dec 15 down ~1m+ making for a complex sandwich of weak layers.

Avalanche Summary

Snowboarder triggered size 2 yesterday, see Avalanche Canada Mountain Information Network (MIN) for more details.Test results showing the Jan 16 surface hoar (5-10mm) down ~60cm, fails suddenly and has a high propagation potential, which could result in large avalanches.No new natural avalanches observed along the highway corridor yesterday.

Confidence

Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain on Sunday

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.