Kananaskis

Wind slabs continue to dominate the landscape due to persistent strong winds. Skier triggering of the these wind slabs is likely.

Our weather stations are experiencing technical difficulties. Troubleshooting is in progress.

Monday will be mainly cloudy with light flurries and temperatures reaching -5C. The winds are relentless and will continue to be strong from the SW for the next couple of days. Some models are calling for steady snowfalls with accumulations near 20cm by Wednesday. Stay tuned.....

Observations were somewhat limited today, but nothing new was noted.

10 to 15cm of snow fell in the past 24 hours adding to the 5 to 10cm from Saturday. Unfortunately, the winds have been strong out of the SW during much of the snowfall which has led to widespread new wind slab development in Alpine and Treeline areas. It has been a very windy couple of weeks, so the upper snowpack mainly consists of several "generations" of wind slab. Conditions vary extensively across the region, so take the time to dig down and evaluate the snowpack. The mid pack is relatively strong and well settled for December. Forecasters continue to monitor the Nov crust layer buried deeply in the snowpack. This layer has been occasionally active, producing large avalanches, but has remained quiet in recent days. Shallow snowpack areas, or transitioning from thick to thin snow depths are the most likely areas to trigger the deeper instability.

• Avoid areas where the snow feels stiff and/or slabby.
• Be alert to conditions that change with elevation and wind exposure.
• Be especially cautious as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Avoid thin areas like rock outcroppings where you're most likely to trigger avalanches failing on deep weak layers.