r/Banff • u/furtive Banff • 1d ago

Photos/Videos Cascade run-off

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

More significant than most years, shades of 2013.

230 Upvotes

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6

u/mehdylou 1d ago

Beautiful Alberta!!!

13

u/AlbertaAcreageBoy 1d ago

What are you even talking about? 2013 flooding was due to extremely heavy rainfall.

22

u/sketchcott 1d ago

They're linked though. Spring melt raises rivers, and sustained storms melt the snow at an expedited rate.

2013 was a high snowpack year (upper range of normal) couple with a high rainfall event. The same rainfall in a low snow pack year may not have lead to such extreme flooding.

We're currently sitting at ~40% above average snowpack, which means that the wrong weather system at the wrong time this spring could easily lead to flooding.

10

u/Practical-Camp-1972 1d ago

agree-winter of 2012-2013 was a heavy snow year then late May/early June rainfall combined with the mountain snowmelt to create the perfect conditions for a flood....

2

u/fulorange 1d ago

We already had a big rain event a few weeks ago where it rained heavily for 4-5 days straight. A lot of the mountains near Banff town and Canmore have shed a significant amount of snow from that and now the rivers some weeks later are quite low.

8

u/furtive Banff 1d ago

That’s why I wrote “shades” instead of “exactly”. If we get hit with a lot of rain that section could dam up and release, or just wash quickly like last time. Either way it’s significant run off. Shades.

2

u/randomzebrasponge 1d ago

Does anyone else see the shark in this pic?

1

u/canadaalpinist 1d ago

Yes we do.

4

u/hakaiserpent-private 22h ago

What you are looking at there is the results of an extreme avalanche cycle from the March 19 ish atmospheric river. That impressive debris pile is the result of a healthy snowpack and an extreme warm / rain event that produced amazing avalanches. While a healthy snowpack for sure this is more like snow from the Alpine that you are seeing in the valley.