Kananaskis

Strong to extreme winds overnight Saturday will likely lead to a natural avalanche cycle on Sunday. Avoid avalanche terrain.

Sunday will be mainly cloudy with strong westerly winds. A few light flurries may also fall, and there will a return to more seasonable temperatures with a high near -10C.

A natural slab avalanche cycle up to size 3 occurred on the east side of the region today with notable avalanches observed on Mt Kidd and in the Fortress area. On the west side of the region (Spray Valley / Smith-Dorrien) there were no new avalanches observed today, but this area has notably escaped the wind so far.

A Tale of Two Valleys: In the Spray Valley as much as 80cm of recent storm snow is settling out (now averaging 60 to 70cm at treeline). There has been very little wind effect in this area.....so far. Forecasted strong westerly winds will likely change that very quickly, but as of Saturday afternoon there were no new avalanches observed. In the Kananaskis Valley (HWY 40), there has been significantly less snow and much more wind, which has caused a natural slab avalanche cycle up to size 3.

Forecasters continue to monitor the Dec crust layer down 120 to 150cm in the snowpack. This curst has faceting on both sides, and while reactive to stability tests, it has not been especially active in recent days. This may change as the wind loading is expected to start to overload this layer.

• Avoid freshly wind loaded terrain features.
• Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.
• Be aware of the potential for large avalanches due to the presence of a persistent slab.