Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Bow Valley, Highwood Pass, Kananaskis, North 40, Spray - KLakes.
Monday is expected to be stormy and snowy. Give all avalanche terrain a miss until the storm passes and the very fragile snowpack has time to adjust to the new load.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches reported or observed today.
Snowpack Summary
Sun crusts continue to form on steep solar aspects. Generally a weak snowpack. The surface wind slab at tree line and above is slowly gaining strength but is still producing planar results down 20cm from the surface. Natural avalanches are possible and the consequences would be significant because any trigger would likely make the entire snowpack slide.
Weather Summary
A storm arrives. Forecast models are calling for anywhere between 15-25cm starting tonight and throughout Monday. The storm will come in warm with day time highs of -4. The winds will be howling out of the SW to 60km/h. Freezing levels around 2000m
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Be aware of the potential for surprisingly large avalanches due to deeply buried weak layers.
- Avoid shallow, rocky areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.
- Pay attention to cornices and give them a wide berth when traveling on or below ridges.
- Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Freshly formed windslabs will be reactive on lee features treeline and above.
If triggered, there is a good chance this will step down to the basal weakness creating a much larger avalanche
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South, North West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2
Deep Persistent Slabs
The alpine is still variable in total amounts of snow but the basal layers haven't changed. The entire lower half is either facets, or depth hoar. Thin weak areas should be treated as suspect and avoided.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 2 - 3.5