Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 25th, 2016 3:00PM

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

matt.mueller, Alberta Parks

Kananaskis.

Solar radiation will be a question mark for tomorrow. If the sun appears, or the cloud is thin expect the snow to become moist quickly. In that case, cornices and loose wet avalanches become a possibility.

Summary

Confidence

High

Weather Forecast

Tonight the freezing level will drop to well below valley bottom. Tomorrow will be mainly cloudy with an alpine high of -4. Winds will be westerly in direction and mostly light. Freezing level will creep up to 1700m. The forecast shows the cloud layer to be fairly thin. Expect a fair amount of solar radiation to creep through.

Avalanche Summary

Some isolated loose wet up to sz1 and pinwheeling out of steep terrain.

Snowpack Summary

Convective flurries have added some new snow to certain areas. The Aster Lake area had almost 10cm overnight while the Spray road area only had 5cm. The new snow hasn't added much in terms of load or additional avalanche problems. Solar input today made for moist snow on all aspects up to 2200m and all the way to peak height on southern aspects. Expect this to make yet another temperature crust overnight tonight. The complete lack of wind has kept any wind slab development minimal, however there may be settlement slabs on solar aspects as the new snow quickly settles.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

Natural activity has stopped on this layer. The almost spring conditions are helping it to bond, however watch the non-polar aspects as it may be a bit slower to improve. With the new snow, this layer is down 30-50cm.

Dig down to find and test weak layers before committing to a line.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

2 - 4

Deep Persistent Slabs

This is the layer that is responsible for the recent large avalanches. It will likely take the rest of the season for it to go away completely. This layer appears to be worse in the north part of the region.

Stick to non-avalanche terrain or small features with limited consequence.>Avoid convexities or areas with a thin or variable snowpack.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible - Likely

Expected Size

3 - 6

Valid until: Mar 26th, 2016 2:00PM