Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Apr 26 – 27, 2014Alberta Parks
View on map
Archived · expired 12 years ago

Avalanche danger

Mon
Tue
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
Open full map

Highlights

A few more cm of snow will fall overnight.  Watch for the sun coming out as solar radiation will rapidly decrease stability especially on solar aspects.  One large avalanche was observed on saturday.  Click details for more information.

Avalanche problems

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    3–6
    The basal facets are producing large slab avalanches that are failing on the basal facets.

Confidence

Fair - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain

Weather Forecast

Conditions will remain cool overnight and we can expect about 5cm of new snow throughout the night. Freezing levels will be around 1800-2000m.  The forecast is calling for a mix of sun and cloud so expect stability to decrease when the sun comes out.

Avalanche Summary

There were a few small loose wet slides and one larger sz 3 avalanche on a SE aspect on commonwealth ridge.  This slide was likely triggerred by solar radiation but it failed in the basal facets and ran full path the the end of its historical runout.  Photo

Snowpack Summary

A few new cm of snow fell overnight on Friday and throughout the day on Saturday.  This snow is overlying a thick melt freeze crust and there are isolated windslabs in alpine areas. Lower elevations are isothermal later in the day (or earlier if the freeze is poor) and the only dry snow you will be able to find is on sheltered north aspects.

Regions covered