Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Feb 10th, 2016 7:04AM

The alpine rating is moderate, the treeline rating is moderate, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs and Cornices.

jeremy.mackenzie, Alberta Parks

Kananaskis.

Cooler temps on Thursday will reduce the hazard levels. Ski quality is poor due to extended periods of warm weather that has now created widespread surface crusts.

Summary

Confidence

High

Weather Forecast

Thursday will be mainly cloudy with a very slight chance of precipitation. Alpine temperatures will reach a high of -3 °C with freezing levels of 1800m. Ridge-top winds will be out of the west at 15 km/h gusting to 55 km/h.

Avalanche Summary

Several loose wet up to size 1.5 occurred today on solar aspects at all elevations.

Snowpack Summary

Snowpack continues to settle with warm temperatures. Temperatures at Treeline today reached +5 degrees, while valley bottoms were near +& degrees. Moist snow on solar aspects today which will form crusts tonight. Cornices are sagging and if they fail could trigger significant avalanches on the slopes below. The principal concern in the snowpack remains the Jan 6th layer buried 30 to 80cm. While more difficult to trigger, a failure on this layer would produce a large to very large avalanche.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

The Jan 6th layer is a classic low probability, high consequence problem. It is currently hard to trigger, but resulting avalanches will likely be large to very large. Take time to evaluate this layer before committing to a terrain feature.

Be aware of the potential for large, deep avalanches.>Avoid areas with overhead hazard.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

2 - 5

Wind Slabs

Wind slabs are found in lee and cross-loaded features at higher elevations. Shallow snowpack areas are likely trigger points.

Avoid lee and cross-loaded terrain near ridge crests.>

Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 3

Cornices

Cornices have sagged under the recent heat. While cooler temps on Thursday should reduce the likelihood of cornice failures, but be aware of your exposure to these hazards.

Extra caution needed around cornices with current conditions.>Avoid steep slopes below cornices.>

Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 5

Valid until: Feb 11th, 2016 2:00PM