Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 22nd, 2021 4:00PM

The alpine rating is low, the treeline rating is low, and the below treeline rating is low.

Avalanche Canada ahanna, Avalanche Canada

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Get out there and explore the region! Alpine hazards are quite manageable with normal precautions around things like cornices, possible isolated pockets of wind slab, and terrain traps that can increase the consequences of even small slides.

Summary

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Monday night: Partly cloudy with flurries bringing up to 5cm of new snow. Light to moderate northeast wind. Alpine high temperatures around -7.

Tuesday: A mix of sun and cloud. Light westerly wind. Alpine high temperatures around -4. Freezing level 1800 m.

Wednesday: Mostly cloudy. Strong southwest wind. Alpine high temperatures around -4. Freezing level 1700 m.

Thursday: Mostly cloudy. Light southerly wind. Alpine high temperatures around -4. Freezing level 1500 m.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been reported in the region over the past few days. 

Looking forward, light forecast snow amounts are not expected to be sufficient to form a new wind slab problem beyond isolated small slabs in leeward terrain features.

Snowpack Summary

Light new snow amounts have been accumulating over wind affected surfaces in the alpine and refrozen crust lower down after light rain recently wet the snow surface below about 1700 metres. Continuing light flurries will continue to add a bit of dry snow to this mix at all but low elevations in the coming days.

Around 30 to 60 cm of snow sits above a layer of sugary faceted grains that were buried in mid-February. In some areas, there may be an old layer of feathery surface hoar or facets from late January down 50 to 80 cm deep. There have been no reported avalanches on either of these layers in the region since March 9th in the Crowsnest.

The mid pack is firm and well settled. Some faceted snow and a decomposing melt-freeze crust can be found near the base of the snowpack.

Terrain and Travel

  • Be alert to conditions that change with elevation.
  • Small avalanches can have serious consequences in extreme terrain. Carefully evaluate your line for wind slab hazard before you commit to it.

Valid until: Mar 23rd, 2021 4:00PM