Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Akamina, Crowsnest North, Crowsnest South, Elkford East, Elkford West, South Rockies.
Shifting winds can result in difficult to identify patterns of wind slab. Watch for signs of instability like shooting cracks as you transition to open terrain.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
Several loose dry activity up to size 1.5 in neighboring regions out of steep terrain features.
Snowpack Summary
Recent snow has accumulated over a crust at treeline and alpine elevations. On the east side of the region, there is 20 to 40 cm, and on the west side 10 cm on this crust.
Below this crust, the shallow faceted snowpack is moist, with two crust layers, one in the midpack and another near the base of the snowpack. Avalanches on these layers are unlikely, but we continued to monitor their reactivity.
Weather Summary
Tuesday Night
Mainly cloudy. Alpine wind west 10 to 15 km/h. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Wednesday
Cloudy then clearing with sunny breaks. Alpine wind northeast 5 to 15 km/h. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Thursday
Mainly cloudy. Wind southwest 10 to 20 km/h. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Friday
Mainly cloudy, 3 to 5 cm accumulation. Wind southwest 20 to 25 km/h. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
- Wind slabs may be poorly bonded to the underlying crust.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Recent new snow with strong northeast winds developed wind slabs in lee terrain features and continues to be possible to trigger by riders. New southwest winds may make these old wind slabs hard to identify.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2