Avalanche forecast

Waterton Lakes

Dec 5 – 8, 2016Parks Canada
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Archived · expired 10 years ago

Avalanche danger

Mon
Tue
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Rugged travel persists at lower elevations, watch for early season hazards hidden just below the recent new snow. Field observations have been limited to date, evaluate the snowpack carefully before committing to big terrain. JH

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

  • Loose Dry

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1

Weather Forecast

An arctic ridge will remain in place over the region until at least the middle of the week.  Expect clearing skies and cooling temperatures (with overnight lows of -25 deg by Wednesday).

Snowpack Summary

Up to 20cm of new snow is covering a well settled early season snowpack (watch for buried windslab near ridges). The snowpack above 2000m is over 100cm deep near in the divide, but much shallower at lower elevations and in Eastern areas. A mid November crust down 40-90cm was well bonded in areas observed to date but warrants evaluation.

Avalanche Summary

No recent activity observed.

Confidence

Due to the number and quality of field observations

Regions covered