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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 17th, 2020–Mar 18th, 2020

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.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Glacier.

Another warm day in the forecast. Expect solar aspects to become more reactive during the heat of the day.

Weather Forecast

The warm ridge of high pressure from the Pacific persists. Temperatures will warm significantly through out the day again, valley bottom temps are currently -13 and the freezing level if forecast to climb as high as 1700m today. Clear skies and calm winds will cause solar aspects to heat up quickly.

Snowpack Summary

Strong diurnal temperature swings have built a crust on solar aspects that will break down with daytime warming. Open terrain at upper elevations is heavily wind effected from the strong NE winds Friday-Saturday. The Feb 22 PWL is down 90-130cm and consists of 3-7mm surface hoar on all aspects up to 2450m as well as a crust on solar aspects.

Avalanche Summary

Several small-large (up to size 2.5) loose snow avalanches occurred on solar aspects on Sunday.

A large (size 2.5) persistent slab avalanche occurred naturally overnight Saturday in the Observatory path (N aspect at Treeline in the Abbott winter prohibited area), this avalanche initiated as a windslab and stepped down to the Feb. 22nd PWL- see MIN.

Confidence

The weather pattern is stable

Problems

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.

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.