Sunny skies and clear weather this weekend may be inviting, but don't let your guard down - The sun is packing a punch!
Deeper instabilities and persistent weak layers remain reactive. Give the snowpack time to recover, stick to conservative terrain, and avoid overhead hazard.
This avalanche problem is associated with a weak facet and crust layer buried at the end of January approximately 80cm down in sheltered areas. This includes a crust layer formed in early March below the recent storm snow which is prominent on solar aspects.
Recent snow and warm temperatures will lead to wet loose avalanches when the sun appears. These have been triggering deeper weak layers within the snowpack.
Field teams continue to observe deep persistent slab avalanches this week. Avalanches in the upper snowpack may have the potential to step down to these deeper weak layers, leading to larger, more destructive slides. Consider this layer when evaluating overhead hazard and terrain choices.
Field teams throughout the park observed numerous wet loose avalanches up to size 1 due to increased solar warming. These smaller avalanches were then triggering larger persistent and deep persistent slabs up to size 2.5
Up to 10 cm of moist snow is present to at least 2300 m on solar aspects. The Maligne area has a surface crust on most aspects except very sheltered north. The upper snowpack has 25 cm of settling new snow over recent crusts. A 50-100 cm mid-pack rests on March/January facets. The lower snowpack is weak with depth hoar and old crusts. Treeline snow depth is 110-170 cm.
Monday
A mix of sun and cloud. Alpine temperature: High -1 °C. Ridge wind light to 10 km/h. Freezing level: 2100 metres.
Tuesday
A mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries. Alpine temperature: Low -5 °C, High -2 °C. Ridge wind light to 15 km/h. Freezing level: 1900 metres.
Wednesday
Flurries up to 9 cm. Alpine temperature: Low -9 °C, High -5 °C. Ridge wind light to 15 km/h. Freezing level at valley bottom.
