Wind Slabs
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Possible
- Dimensione
- 1–2
Wind slabs may still be triggered by riders in lee areas. These slabs may not bond well with a buried crust.
Investigate how the new snow is bonding to the underlying crust.
A weak layer of facets has been observed on the crust in neighbouring regions.
Wind slabs may still be triggered by riders in lee areas. These slabs may not bond well with a buried crust.
Cornices are more likely to fall as the temperature rises.
Wet loose avalanches are likely to occur during calm, sunny periods. Avoid being underneath slopes in the sun.
On Thursday, west of Invermere, several small storm slabs failed naturally during the storm.
On Wednesday, there were a few natural and rider-controlled wind slabs and two that were remotely triggered by a helicopter. They were all small avalanches (size 1-1.5).
Looking towards Friday, riders could trigger newly formed wind slabs at higher elevations.
Please consider submitting a MIN to let us know what you're seeing out there.
20 to 60 cm of snow has fallen in the last three days. This new snow sits on moist snow below treeline or a hard melt-freeze crust in the alpine. Some areas may have weak facets on this crust; information is limited at this time of year, so investigate in your area.
A thick crust from mid-March is 30-60 cm deep, which extends up to about 2400 m. Near Invermere, a weak layer of facets may be found above this crust.
Facets are found near the bottom of the snowpack in shallow alpine snowpack areas. The lower snowpack is strong in deep snowpack areas.
The snowpack continues to melt at lower elevations.
Thursday Night
Mostly clear skies. 30 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C. Freezing level 1300 m.
Friday
Mix of sun and clouds. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C. Freezing level 1800 m.
Saturday
Sunny. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level 2300 m.
Sunday
Sunny. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 2800 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.