Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Brazeau, Churchill, Cirrus-Wilson, Fryatt, Icefields, Jasper, Maligne, Marmot, Miette Lake, Pyramid.
In the spring, convective flurries can drop vastly different amounts of snow from valley to valley. Maintain situational awareness and change your plans if faced with unexpected weather.
Confidence
Low
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches observed
Post avalanche observations to the MIN.
Snowpack Summary
Sun crusts on solar aspects into the alpine and a melt-freeze crust at tree line and below on all aspects. Small wind slabs in the alpine from moderate to strong SW winds and recent new snow. A layer of sun crust or facets linger in the mid-pack. The main concern is the depth hoar and basal facets at the bottom causing our deep persistent slab problem.
Weather Summary
Wednesday
Sunny with cloudy periods and isolated flurries
Precipitation: Trace
Alpine temperature: High 0 °C
Mostly light ridge wind occasionally gusting to 40 km/h
Freezing level: 2200m
Thursday
Sunny
Alpine temperature: Low -8 °C, High 0 °C
Mostly light ridge wind occasionally gusting to 40 km/h
Freezing level: 2200m
Terrain and Travel Advice
- In areas where deep persistent slabs may exist, avoid shallow or variable depth snowpacks and unsupported terrain features.
Avalanche Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
The bottom of the snowpack is inherently weak with well-developed Facets and Depth Hoar. The next few days could see this problem moving into the reactive category with dramatically rising freezing levels.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 2 - 4
Loose Wet
Warming temperatures will continue to produce wet loose avalanches.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2
Wind Slabs
Moderate to strong south west winds and new snow from convective activity will make new wind slabs.
Aspects: North, North East, East, North West.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood: Possible - Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2