Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Bow Valley, Highwood Pass, Kananaskis, North 40, Spray - KLakes.
Some light snow amounts to freshen up the landscape.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches have been reported but there are lots of signs of recent activity from the weekend.
Snowpack Summary
Expect to find the new snow(5-10cm) lying on top of an extensive frozen crust at all elevations, especially on solar aspects. This crust is providing strong bridging over any weak layers. On the shady aspects, there are older lingering surface wind slabs under this new snow that one should pay attention to. Both the persistent slab and the deep persistent slab could still be triggered on steep open alpine features. Take the time to dig and investigate these buried layers. You might see some sluffing in steep terrain with this new snow.
Weather Summary
Snow and slight cooling is the recipe. This next weather system seems to have stalled a bit but there is hope. Models are showing 5-10cm for Wednesday with light to moderate SW winds. Alpine temperatures will climb to -1c. Freezing level is expected to be 2100m. More cooling on Wednesday night with snow on Thursday.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Conditions may have improved, but be mindful that deep instabilities are still present.
Avalanche Problems
Persistent Slabs
This layer is the Feb 2 crust (down 40-90cm) that has facets around it and is still a concern on polar aspects.
Aspects: North, North East, East, West, North West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible
Expected Size: 1.5 - 2.5
Deep Persistent Slabs
This layer is the basal facets that is still a concern on polar aspects
Aspects: North, North East, East, West, North West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible
Expected Size: 1.5 - 2.5