Avalanche forecast

Waterton Lakes

Jan 13 – 16, 2016Parks Canada
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Archived · expired 11 years ago

Avalanche danger

Wed
Thu
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

A weak interface of surface hoar, facets and suncrust formed during the early January drought is likely to become increasingly reactive as new snow  adds to the load that it is currently carrying.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

  • Storm Slabs

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

Weather Forecast

A weak warm front making its way inland will bring cloudy skies and warming temperatures through Wednesday.  This warm front will be met by an arctic front sliding down from the north on  Wednesday evening/Thursday morning, uncertainty surrounds the intensity and timing of the resulting snowfall, amounts may vary from 10-20cm.

Snowpack Summary

Moderate-Strong SW winds scouring areas of previous melt-freeze crust, and redistributing up to 7cm of recent new snow into thin windslabs.  These are covering surface hoar, up to 6mm in size, in locations sheltered from NW winds and old surface facets. The middle and lower snowpack are well settled and currently giving no notable shears.

Avalanche Summary

There has been no recent avalanche activity observed or reported.

Confidence

Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain

Regions covered