Avalanche forecast

Banff Yoho Kootenay

Apr 4 – 5, 2019Parks Canada
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Archived · expired 7 years ago

Avalanche danger

Sat
Sun
Alpine
No rating
Treeline
No rating
Below
No rating
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Highlights

Convective weather over the next few days should refresh snow conditions through the weekend. Good powder skiing can still be found on high north aspects.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    1–2
    Dry snow remains on alpine, north aspect slopes. We have only seen a few isolated occurrences in steep, isolated features like moraines and glacier rolls over the past week, but continue to observe the weakness in snowpack assessments.

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    1–1.5
    This problem is directly related to daytime heating and solar inputs. Even on a cloudy day localized solar effect can quickly change the snow stability. Monitor changing conditions and avoid gully features later in the day where wet snow may run.

Weather Forecast

A mix of sun and cloud for Friday with valley bottom temps reaching plus 10C. Precipe forecasted later in the day, expect light amount of snow at higher elevations and rain in the valley. After a cool down on Thursday night the freezing levels will stay relatively steady between 1700 to 2000m for the weekend.

Snowpack Summary

Light dusting of snow over a melt-freeze crust on all areas, except alpine and treeline north and east aspects where there's up to 20 cm of old soft snow. There is still concern for a buried facet layer in the upper 30 cm of the snowpack on alpine N aspects and pockets of unconsolidated snow.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches were observed today.

Confidence

Regions covered