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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 27th, 2016–Feb 28th, 2016

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

Regions

Kananaskis.

Tonight the forecast is for some colder temperatures to freeze all this moist surface snow into some solid crusts which will improve travel and tighten up the snowpack.  New thin wind slabs have developed and cornice failures persist so remain aware.

Confidence

High

Weather Forecast

Sunday will be mainly cloudy with 5mm of snow forecast for the day. Winds will be out of the west 30km/h with some stronger gusts to 75km/h.  Freeze levels will rise to 1800 meters tomorrow.

Avalanche Summary

Surprisingly few loose wet avalanches observed today from the highway.  One avalanche was noted in the Murray moraines area, size 1.5 slab initiated from a cornice failure.

Snowpack Summary

Snowpack continues to settle with high freeze levels.  Moist snow to 2200 on all aspects due to lack of overnight recovery.  Moist to ridge top on all solar aspects.  Winds out of the west today were likely building thin wind slabs in the lee (easterly) aspects and across cross wind affected terrain today and continuing to build cornices at alpine ridgetop.  Below 2200, the snowpack was not supportive and travel was nasty.  Crusts will be prevalent on all solar aspects and up to 2200 meters approximately on all other aspects.  Shallow snowpack have weak facetted structure and do not support skiers weight.

Problems

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.

Cornices

Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.

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.