Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 22nd, 2013 3:00PM

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

mike.koppang, Alberta Parks

Kananaskis.

Tomorrow is looking like a beautiful day. If the sun makes an appearance, don't underestimate its strength and affect on the snowpack. Overhead hazard will go up with the solar radiation. MM

Summary

Confidence

Good

Weather Forecast

Convective flurries will continue for tonight, but end by the morning. Another 4cm can be expected. Oddly enough, the winds will stay light at all elevations with the exception of a short spike of northerly wind overnight. The cloud cover will be minimal, so expect a strong solar component tomorrow. And finally, the temps will remain in the -14 to -10 range. Shaping up to be a nice day tomorrow.

Avalanche Summary

Sloughing from steep alpine terrain on all aspects.

Snowpack Summary

20cm of low density snow has fallen in the last 48hours. This snow is undisturbed from the lack of wind and is available for transport if winds pick up. Below this new snow sits a spotty windslab that is more pronounced at TL & ALP. The slab is more widespread as the altitude goes up. The march 12th crust is down 30-80 at TL & below. No recent failures on this layer, however it is still a concern. Cornice growth has also been ongoing with the recent snow. Of note today was an easy compression test that failed on depth hoar below treeline, down 80cm.

Problems

Wind Slabs

There have been a variety of wind slabs & storm slabs created over the last week. The most likely slab to react is now buried by up to 20cm at TL & ALP. The latest snow has not been redistributed by the winds. By Saturday afternoon that may change.

Avoid freshly wind loaded features.>Avoid shallow snowpack areas where triggering is more likely.>

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

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible - Likely

Expected Size

2 - 5

Persistent Slabs

A few crust layers are found in the upper snowpack. These crusts reach as high as 3000m on S aspects and between 22-2400m on other aspects. Monitor the location of these layers within the snowpack and assess the bond with layers above.

Avoid areas with overhead hazard.>Avoid exposure to terrain traps where the consequences of a small avalanche could be serious.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

2 - 4

Valid until: Mar 23rd, 2013 2:00PM