Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 27th, 2025–Feb 28th, 2025

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

Regions

Banff Yoho Kootenay, Banff, East Side 93N, Kootenay, Lake Louise, LLSA, Sunshine, West Side 93N, Field.

Conditions are tricky right now. There has been a lot of wind, a persistent weak layer and now the sun is forecast to come out with warm afternoon temperatures.

Stick to low angle terrain on shaded aspects and look for areas without wind effect to find the best quality snow with the lowest avalanche risk.

Confidence

Low

Avalanche Summary

On Thursday, helicopter avalanche control on Mt. Field, Stephen, and Dennis produced slab avalanches up to size 3. Any spot that looked like it could avalanche, did. Many avalanches triggered slabs from the side walls of the path.

On Wednesday, a skier triggered a size 1.5 avalanche in Lipalian 3, just outside the Lake Louise ski area boundary. One skier was carried 60 m but remained on the surface, uninjured. Sunshine patrol triggered a size 2 deep slab with explosives.

Snowpack Summary

10 - 30cm of snow from last weekend has been blown by winds in alpine and treeline areas. This snow sits over a layer of weak facets, surface hoar or sun crust from the prolonged cold, dry period in February.

The mid-pack is generally facets, while depth hoar and crusts form an even weaker base. The snowpack is the weakest in eastern areas where snow depths are low. In these areas, the basal weaknesses should be carefully considered.

Weather Summary

Warm, spring-like weather is here for the next few days. Expect sunny skies with good freezes in the morning and freezing levels rising to ~ 2300m in the afternoon. Ridgetop winds will be light to moderate from the west throughout the period. No precipitation is forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • In areas where deep persistent slabs may exist, avoid shallow or variable depth snowpacks and slopes above cliffs.
  • Avoid steep, sun-exposed slopes when the air temperature is warm or when solar radiation is strong.
  • Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind-affected terrain.

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.

Deep Persistent Slabs

Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.

Loose Wet

Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.