Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 22nd, 2024–Feb 23rd, 2024

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Alpine

Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

Treeline

Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Regions

Kananaskis, Bow Valley, Highwood Pass, North 40, Spray - KLakes.

Winter will start to return late day tomorrow. Expect gusty winds in the afternoon as the incoming weather pushes in. By Sunday afternoon our winter wonderland could be back!

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches observed or reported.

Snowpack Summary

For the 4 people that have been regularly following the snowpack, there hasn't been much change. Read on if you're bored, but feel free to insert yesterday's news and move on with your day. For the rest of us, here's the low down...Facets and crusts are the theme. The old storm snow has either been exposed to sun and refrozen into thin sun crusts, or facetted out and turned to loose, dry snow. There's about 20cm on average at treeline on top of the crust. The Feb 3rd crust is still prominent up to about 2400m, then starts to fizzle out and blend with the rest of the facetted, loose snowpack. In the alpine, we're still seeing old windslabs in various densities that could be triggerable in the right(wrong?) terrain. Beneath the Feb 3rd crust is a series of facetted layers that carry on to ground. Snow depths are skimpy, with 90cm being the alpine average.

Weather Summary

Friday will start out at -12 and warm up to about -3 by afternoon. The early morning clouds are expected to thin with hopefully blue skies by mid morning. Winds will still be light from the SW with some afternoon gusts. No significant snow for tomorrow, but it looks like a storm is on its way for next week.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

Avoid areas with a thin or variable snowpack.
Back off if you encounter whumpfing, hollow sounds, or shooting cracks.
Wind slabs may be poorly bonded to the underlying crust.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.