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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 22nd, 2024–Mar 23rd, 2024

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

Regions

Glacier.

Human triggered avalanches are still possible and if the sun comes out, watch out for natural activity.

Expect conditions to vary greatly with elevation and aspect.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Avalanche activity has decreased with cooler temperatures and cloud cover.

A widespread natural avalanche cycle of size 3-3.5 occurred last week. These wet avalanches failed within the moist upper snowpack and stepped down to the persistent weak layer (over 1m deep).

A field team investigated a natural, size 3 avalanche that occurred on Mar 18th, on a N aspect at tree-line. The failure plane was down ~120 cm on the Feb 3rd persistent weak layer.

Snowpack Summary

New snow buried a crust found on most aspects and elevations, except treeline and above on polar slopes. Rain created a crust below treeline, which will freeze & thaw with diurnal temperature fluctuations.

A weak layer formed on March 9th is down ~30cm. It has been preserved on N aspects at treeline and above.

The Feb 03 crust is down 80-140 cm and a weak layer of loose snow sits above it.

Weather Summary

A fairly benign weather pattern brings a mix of sun & cloud with cooler temps and very little precip.

Tonight: Trace precip, Alp Low: -8, Light E winds, Freezing level (fz): Valley Bottom

Sat: Mix of sun & cloud, Alp High: -4, Light E winds, fz level: 1600 m

Sun: Sunny w/ cloudy periods, Alp High: -8, Light E winds. Fz level 1000m

Mon: Cloudy/sunny periods, Alp High: -2, Light E winds, fz level 1800m

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Be mindful that deep instabilities are still present and have produced recent large avalanches.
  • Keep in mind the crust offers an excellent bed surface for avalanches.
  • Remember that the snowpack will be significantly different at higher elevations than lower down.

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.