Continued extreme cold temperatures for the next few days - keep this in mind as any incident or equipment failure may lead to severe consequences. A few loose dry avalanches noted on the Icefields parkway on Monday up to size 1.5.
A recently buried surface hoar / facet layer and thin sun crust will make dry loose avalanches likely in steep terrain. The weak nature of our snowpack makes it possible for these avalanches to gouge deeper in the snowpack and gain mass.
This problem includes our prominent facet surface hoar layer down 30-40cm. The lower snow pack is weak and faceted due to consistent cold temperatures. Any avalanches initiating in the mid or upper snowpack will likely step down to the "deep" layer on or near the ground.
Below tree line hazard is rated low but caution is advised in isolated steep open slopes where wind affected stiffer snow may be present on top of the weak layers described above.
A few loose dry avalanches noted December 19 on the Icefields parkway up to size 1.5 - mostly on solar aspects. On December 14th in the Parker Ridge/Mt. Saskatchewan area, a couple of slab avalanches to size 2 were reported stepping down to ground in the alpine.
2-5 cm of snow fell on December 17th and has buried a surface hoar / facet layer in sheltered areas at tree line and below. In the alpine, surface conditions are variable with a mix of hard wind pressed snow and facets. A persistent weak layer is down 25-35cm specific to tree line and below in sheltered areas. The bottom of the snowpack is weak consisting of basal facets with pockets of depth hoar. The snowpack height ranges from 40-100cm. Snowpack is unsupportive tree line and below.
The Arctic ridge continues to provide extreme cold temperatures and dry conditions. Winds will be light from the northeast. No significant precipitation is expected during the forecast period.
