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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 24th, 2013–Jan 25th, 2013

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

Regions

Little Yoho.

New snow West of the divide has freshened up the skiing.  Previous winds have scoured winward slopes down to bare rock in many areas.SH

Weather Forecast

Another 5cm by Friday afternoon with mainly mod-strong alpine West winds.  Alpine temperatures should stay in the -10C range for Friday.

Snowpack Summary

Lake Ohara region today, 15-20cm in last 24 hrs with mod-strong ridge winds creating soft wind slabs in exposed features.  2450m ~170cm on Opabin glacier.  Most new along and W of divide.  Variable hard slabs from previous strong winds now mainly buried.  In thinner snowpack areas and below treeline midpack facetted and weake.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanche activity today except for sloughing out of climbing terrain.

Confidence

Due to the number of field observations on Thursday

Problems

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.

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.