Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Jan 22 – 23, 2018Alberta Parks
View on map
Archived · expired 9 years ago

Avalanche danger

Wed
Thu
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
Open full map

Highlights

A few large avalanches have occurred in the past 24hrs. Dangerous avalanche conditions exist at upper elevations.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–3
    Wind slabs are everywhere in the Alpine and open areas at Treeline, except on windward aspects. Avalanche activity increased today in steep lee and cross-loaded terrain.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–3
    Forecasters are tracking 3 buried layers of concern (click on "Details" for more), which are highly variable in their distribution. Avalanche activity observed today initiated in the upper snowpack and then steeped down to the persistent slabs.

Confidence

Moderate -

Weather Forecast

Tuesday will be cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries. Alpine temperature will be near -9 °C. Winds remain strong out of the SW. Wednesday may bring a few cm's of new snow.

Avalanche Summary

Avalanche activity has increased in the past 24 hours. A size 3.0 naturally triggered slab avalanche occurred in the past 24 hours on a steep north aspect in the Alpine. This avalanche is expected to have run on the Dec 15th interface, and the slide ran full path. In addition, a couple of size 2.0 slab avalanches occurred on steep East aspects at Treeline. These slabs appeared to initiate on the Jan 6th interface and then step down to the Dec 15th interface with fracture depths up to 80cm.

Snowpack Summary

Several days of very strong winds has led to widespread wind slab conditions in the Alpine and open areas at Treeline. These are found on all aspects except west, where the winds have stripped the windward slopes down to bare rock. At 2250m and below there are now 3 layers of buried surface hoar. These are referred to as the Jan 18th, Jan 6th and Dec 15th surface hoar layers, down 25, 50 and 100cm respectively. Recent snowpack stability tests indicate that all these layers are reactive, with the Jan 6th and Dec 15th layers the most concerning as there is now sufficient overlying slab to be an avalanche problem. The November and October crusts deeper in the snowpack are being tracked but remain inactive at the moment.

Regions covered