Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Mar 11 – 12, 2019Alberta Parks
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Archived · expired 8 years ago

Avalanche danger

Wed
Thu
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Heads Up!!!!  New wind slabs in the alpine and at tree line.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–2
    The strong winds have left us with new wind slabs in the alpine and upper treeline.

  • Loose Dry

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–2

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    1.5–3
    What will wake up this layer? A skier/rider in a thin shallow snowpack area? Warmer temps with some solar radiation? A cornice failure? This layer deserves respect as any resulting avalanche will be full depth.

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Tuesday will bring light flurries and strong SW winds in the morning with winds diminishing and snow developing after lunch.  Snow amounts are expected to be12cm with a high temperature of -5c.

Avalanche Summary

Few new slab avalanches  were observed on SW to NE faces .

Snowpack Summary

Widespread wind slab in the alpine and treeline from the strong SW winds over the last 24hours. Time for heads up for lee and cross loaded features that have experienced substantial wind loading  The formerly strong midpack has been decimated by a month of cold weather and is now highly variable in its density, with many areas exhibiting no structure at all. Much of the region's snowpack consists of recent wind slabs sitting on up to 80cm of depth hoar and facets. It will be interesting to see how the snowpack adjusts to the recent load and the forecasted warm temperatures. It is likely that full-depth avalanches will become more commonplace in the next few days.

Regions covered