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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 14th, 2024–Mar 15th, 2024

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

Regions

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

A significant warmup and an already unreliable snowpack provide the ingredients for an avalanche cycle. Friday may start cooler but the danger will rise quickly, especially on solar aspects.

Through these fluctuating conditions, we will list the highest expected rating of the day.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Many large natural avalanches (size 2.5 to 3.5) were observed today in the Lake Louise backcountry (Richardson Bowl, Redoubt), likely triggered by heat. They initiated on persistent layers and then stepped to the ground. Also, a remotely triggered avalanche was reported on the Observation sub-peak without incident today (photos below). It started on the Feb. 3 crust, stepped to the ground, and remotely triggered three size 3 avalanches spanning multiple features.

Snowpack Summary

Moist snow in the valley bottoms on steep solar slopes, and variable crusts are forming daily on solar aspects and lower elevations. On shady aspects up high, there is still dry snow. 50-90 cm of settled snow overlies weaker facets above the Feb 3 crust interface, up to at least 2500 m. The base of the snowpack consists of weak facets. Deeper snowpack areas (west of the divide) are more settled and stronger.

Weather Summary

Friday: Valley bottom freezing levels in the early AM rising to 2600m (high +3C at treeline), light NW winds and sunny.

Friday night: Valley bottom freezing levels except for an above-freezing layer from 2300m to the alpine (aka no freeze!).

Saturday: 3000m+ freezing levels (high +6C at treeline), with light winds and sunny skies.

Sunday: Much the same, maybe warmer.

For more details on the weather, click here.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Be alert to conditions that change with aspect and elevation.

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.