Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Apr 3rd, 2014 8:24AM

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

matt.mueller, Alberta Parks

Kananaskis.

Spring is in the air. Sun exposed slopes are stabilizing with the freeze/thaw process but the North aspects are still held in a winter snowpack. Watch for Spring hazards like loose wet avalanches and overhead cornices as the day heats up.

Summary

Confidence

Good

Weather Forecast

The storm heading our way is going to just nip the forecast area. Most of the precipitation will miss us to the north. We're only expecting 5cm's on the Spray Road. The wind and temps will remain similar to today, cool and calm in the morning and a sharp rise in temperature in the afternoon. The cloud cover will be fairly thin tomorrow, so watch for solar effect in the afternoon.

Avalanche Summary

No new activity today, but it felt like we were on the verge of a small solar cycle in steep alpine terrain.

Snowpack Summary

Dust on crust on all solar aspects and all elevations. With the warm air temps lately a weak temperature crust has also formed below 2000m on all aspects. The storm snow from the last week or so is still untouched by wind. The only exception is the high alpine where soft slabs may have formed. Below the new snow, the buried windslabs are bonding well to each other. However, the bond to the Feb 10 layer is still slow and weak in thinner snowpack areas. It is down 110-130 cm's at treeline. Cornices are becoming a problem with the high solar/air temps.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

Assess this problem carefully as you approach bigger or steeper terrain at treeline and above. Thin areas seem to pose more of a problem lately. The Feb 10 layer is 120cm down, these avalanches have potential to be very large.

Be aware of thin areas that may propogate to deeper instabilites.>Be aware of the potential for large, deep avalanches.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Possible - Likely

Expected Size

2 - 5

Valid until: Apr 4th, 2014 2:00PM