Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 18th, 2018 4:00PM

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

aaron beardmore, Parks Canada

Banff Yoho Kootenay.

Cooler temps are expected over the next few days. However, if temperatures unexpectedly rise in the zone local to where you are skiing/climbing, expect the avalanche danger to rise quickly. Having a plan for an escape route is wise.

Summary

Weather Forecast

Monday will see light accumulations up to 3cm. A slight dip in the temperatures is expected to the-5 range in the valleys and -10 at ridge top. It will remain cloudy for the majority of the day with wind staying in the light range from the West.

Snowpack Summary

20-30 cm of recent snow has formed a variable soft slab on some features that is slowly bonding to the underlying surfaces, such as melt freeze crust on solar aspects and older snow layers including facets on shady aspects. Below this the majority of the snowpack is stable and has recently shown no results in tests.

Avalanche Summary

No avalanches observed or reported.

Confidence

Freezing levels are uncertain on Wednesday

Problems

Storm Slabs

20-30cm recent snow has formed a soft slab and has seen recent human triggering. Avalanche activity is tapering but dig down to test the layer in your local area to determine its sensitivity.

The storm slab may be more sensitive to human triggering on solar aspects where it sits on sun crust

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Mar 19th, 2018 4:00PM