Wind Slabs
- Alpin
- Limite forestière
- Sous la limite forestière
- Probabilité
- Unlikely - Possible
- Taille
- 1–2
Recent winds and snow have formed wind slabs
Fat hard slabs on facets and early season hazards are still a big concern out there, hope for lots of snow Tuesday night!
Recent winds and snow have formed wind slabs
Pockets of previous wind deposited snow overlies the Nov 4 rain crust. Test results are mixed on this layer but appears to be becoming more reactive with increased loads and continued faceting
Tuesday, Flurries: 10 cm. Alpine temperature: High -7 °C. Ridge wind southwest: 20-35 km/h.
Wednesday, Scattered flurries: 5 cm. Alpine temperature: Low -14 °C, High -7 °C. Ridge wind west: 10-30 km/h.
Thursday, Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries: Trace. Alpine temperature: Low -13 °C, High -10 °C. Ridge wind west: 20 km/h.
The snowpack is highly variable depending on location. Height of snow at Parkers is ~100cm at treeline. The Nov.4 crust up to 2600m, and is up to 70cm deep. Test results on this crust have shown a mix of mod sudden/resistent planar results. Continued wind slab develop on N and E aspects ridgetop down into treeline. Basal layers continue to weaken
Several natural wind slab and dry loose avalanches in the alpine on north aspects have been observed in the Icefields, Jasper and Bald hills region over the past few days. Natural avalanche activity has decreased, but there is still significant concern for human triggering.