Avalanche Forecast
North and eastern parts of the Jasper bulletin region seeing significantly less precipitation than the Icefields area. 10cm new snow is possible by Wednesday morning. Watch for additional wind slab development with continued moderate to strong southwest winds.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
No patrol on the Maligne road. Shangrila MIN for more details on avalanche conditions in the area.
Don't forget to post avalanche observations to the MIN.
Snowpack Summary
Trace to 2cm of precipitation in the last 24 hours. Moderate to strong southwest wind continues to strip snow in exposed alpine features creating wind slab in the alpine and into exposed tree line. A weak melt freeze crust facet combo down 25cm below 2100m is showing sudden collapse results in snow pit tests. Generally, the bottom of the snowpack is weak facets and depth hoar. The snowpack ranges from 50 to 120cm.
Weather Summary
The tail end of a low pressure system is expected overnight Tuesday and may bring up to 10cm of new snow in the north and eastern parts of the bulletin region. Winds will be moderate to strong from the southwest and west - freezing level will remain at or near valley bottom. Clearing trend is expected on Wednesday with continued moderate to strong westerly winds.
Detailed weather forecasts from Avalanche Canada: https://avalanche.ca/weather/forecast
Terrain and Travel Advice
- In areas where deep persistent slabs may exist, avoid shallow or variable depth snowpacks and unsupported terrain features.
- Watch for signs of slab formation throughout the day.
Avalanche Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
The bottom of the snow pack is inherently weak with well developed Facets and Depth Hoar. Avalanches initiating in the upper snowpack are likely to step down to this layer and gain significant mass.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 2 - 3.5
Wind Slabs
Moderate to strong southwest winds are building wind slabs with the recent snow in the alpine and exposed tree line features. Watch for wind slab development on top of the Jan 27th melt freeze crust.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2