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.
matt.mueller,
Alberta Parks
