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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 22nd, 2024–Mar 24th, 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, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Regions

Waterton Lakes, Waterton.

Winter is back again with cool temps and fresh snow. The new snow is falling on a crust and surface problems will be the main concern.

Some steep north slopes stayed dry through the warm up and triggering the February persistent layer may still be possible. The consequence of this layer will still be very high so use caution in these areas

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

The natural wet loose cycle we observed during the big warm-up this week has ended. No new naturals observed in the last two days.

Snowpack Summary

Up to 20cm of new snow overlies a new March 21st crust. Dry snow may have still existed on steep high north slopes. The Feb 3rd crust/facet persistent weak layer is buried 60-100 cm deep. Below this, the snowpack consists of a mixture of settled snow and crust/facet layers to ground. Snowpack depths between 80 - 250 cm.

Weather Summary

Fri

Overcast with light snow throughout the day. Alpine high of -10 with light winds

Sat

Overcast and snowing up to 10cm expected. Winds light to moderate SW and an alpine high of -15

Sun

Snow continues with up to 10cm forecast. Temps remain cool at -15 in the alpine. Winds light to moderate NE.

For more info: Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Watch for fresh storm slabs building throughout the day.
  • Closely monitor how the new snow is bonding to the crust.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.