Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 4th, 2016 3:00PM

The alpine rating is considerable, the treeline rating is considerable, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs and Cornices.

Alberta Parks matt.mueller, Alberta Parks

Tomorrow's forecast balances on the wind, sun exposure and freezing level. Watch the weather carefully and don't hesitate to change plans. Expect the treeline hazard to vary with aspect. In low, or sun exposed areas the 27th could be loaded.

Summary

Confidence

High

Weather Forecast

Tomorrow will see isolated flurries bringing trace amounts of snow. The alpine high will reach zero degrees, but it probably won't feel like that. The winds will be consistently 35km/hr with gusts up to 75km/hr! Freezing level will rise to 2100m.

Avalanche Summary

Some newer loose dry avalanches were noted out of steep alpine terrain. Two slabs were observed as well. Both were in the alpine on east to south east aspects and initiated just below steep cliffs. From a distance, they both looked to be sz2-2.5 with the Jan 6th as the sliding surface. Both avalanches were in the northern part of the region (Mt Rundle & the Goat range).

Snowpack Summary

Intermittent flurries have kept adding to the snowpack. There is now 20cm on top of the Feb 27th layer/interface at treeline elevations. The 27th crust is more prevalent on solar aspects at the moment and extends quite high into the alpine. It is still a thick, well defined crust with no sign of breaking down just yet. On polar aspects, the Feb 27th layer ranges from a crust to more of a subtle density change. The elevation at which this happens is approximately 2100m. Above that the interface shows up as a density change, or in some places as a thin wind layer. Today's treeline profile had the Jan 6th facet layer down 105cm and bonding well with the other layers. This area was locally wind loaded, so expect that number to be non-representative of the region as a whole. The alpine saw significant winds today with severe wind transport. Winds were out of the SW-W, except where the terrain disturbed the flow and caused local reverse loading. Cornices continue to grow on a variety of aspects.

Problems

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs
This layer includes old and new/developing windslabs. Watch for fresh windloading on lee aspects and expect the possibility of buried wind slabs on south aspects.
Avoid freshly wind loaded features.>Caution in lee and cross-loaded terrain near ridge crests.>

Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South, South West.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 3

Persistent Slabs

An icon showing Persistent Slabs
Transitional terrain in the alpine is a likely place to find this layer within the human triggering depth range.
Be aware of thin areas that may propogate to deeper instabilites.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Unlikely - Possible

Expected Size

2 - 5

Cornices

An icon showing Cornices
The fresh cornices from today are building rapidly and are often weak. Keep these in mind as a potential trigger for both wind slabs and the deep persistent slabs.
Be aware of the potential for full depth avalanches due to deeply buried weak layers.>Avoid areas with overhead hazard.>

Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 4

Valid until: Mar 5th, 2016 2:00PM

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