Avalanche forecast

Jasper

Apr 26 – 27, 2023Avalanche Canada
View on map
Archived · expired 3 years ago

Avalanche danger

Fri
Sat
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
3 · Considerable
Below
No rating
Open full map

Highlights

We will get one more weak overnight freeze on Thursday night before the freezing levels skyrocket Friday afternoon. Watch out for pockets of wind slab as convective flurries can drop vastly different amounts of snow from valley to valley.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–2

    Moderate to strong south west winds and new snow from convective activity will make new wind slabs.

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–2

    Warming temperatures will continue to produce wet loose avalanches.

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    2–4

    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.

Weather Summary

Thursday

Sunny with cloudy periods

Alpine temperature: High 1 C

Ridge wind west: 10-25 km/h

Freezing level 2400m

Friday

Sunny with cloudy periods

Alpine temperature: Low -1 C

Ridge wind west: 10-20 km/h

Freezing level 3200 m

Saturday

Mix of sun and cloud

Alpine temperature: Low 4 C

Ridge wind southwest: 10 km/h

Freezing level 3500 m

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • In areas where deep persistent slabs may exist, avoid shallow or variable depth snowpacks and unsupported terrain features.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches were reported and no road patrol on the Icefields Parkway today.

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 with 2-5cm of recent snow available for transport. A layer of sun crust or facets lingers in the mid-pack. The main concern is the depth hoar and basal facets at the bottom causing our deep persistent slab problem.

Regions covered