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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 16th, 2017–Mar 17th, 2017

Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Alpine
Widespread avalanches certain.
Treeline
Widespread avalanches certain.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.

Regions

Little Yoho.

Avoid all avalanche terrain and the runouts of any avalanche path.

Weather Forecast

Freezing level to valley bottom Thursday night and a break from the storm. Winds will be in the moderate range. Another significant storm arrived Saturday morning with 30mm expected, alpine winds to 100kmh and freezing levels to 1900-2000m .

Snowpack Summary

30-60cm Thursday and moderate to strong winds have continued to build significant load over midpack facets. The mix of previous rain, warm temperatures, and this new snow is overloading buried storm and windslabs, as well as the deeper facet layers which have woken up. 

Avalanche Summary

A historic avalanche cycle is underway, with avalanches up to size 3.5 being widespread. Some are reaching maximal runouts, including onto trails in simple terrain. Avoid all avalanche terrain .

Confidence

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.

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.

Loose Dry

Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.