Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Mar 13 – 14, 2019Alberta Parks
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Archived · expired 8 years ago

Avalanche danger

Fri
Sat
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Avalanches have the potential to run far in certain terrain. Stick to low angle slopes and avoid terrain traps such as gullies.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Wind slabs are now buried by the fresh snow, but expect to find them virtually everywhere. They will be most sensitive to triggering in steep and unsupported terrain.

  • Loose Dry

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Weather forecasts are inconsistent. If it is actually sunny, this problem could be quite active, but if cloudy conditions prevail, it may be a relative non-issue. Avoid terrain traps and keep an eye on overhead terrain.

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    1.5–3
    This layer is still concerning and could be woken up by a skier/rider in a thin shallow snowpack area, warmer temps with some solar radiation or a cornice failure. This problem deserves respect as any resulting avalanche will be full depth.

Confidence

Moderate - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain

Weather Forecast

Weather models disagree on the outlook for Thursday. It will be either mostly sunny, or totally overcast with light flurries in the afternoon. Winds will be moderate from the west and ridge-top temperatures will climb to -5 by afternoon. Temperatures will be get progressively warmer through the week.

Avalanche Summary

Widespread loose dry avalanches up to size 1.5 in Alpine areas of the Eastern Ranges due to the recent fresh snow. There has also been very isolated thin wind slab activity up to size 1.5 in Alpine and Treeline terrain. Further west, there was little to no avalanche activity observed.

Snowpack Summary

An upslope storm deposited only 10 to 15cm along the Continental divide, with as much as 25cm in the Front Ranges closer to Canmore. This new snow overlies a variety of previous surfaces including sun crust, wind slab, breakable wind crust, sastrugi and facets. A couple of reports today of very poor quality skiing in the Spray. No change to the mid-pack and basal layers - they are still primarily weak and facetted and only have some residual strength in the deeper snowpack areas. Expect occasional ski penetration to ground, especially at lower elevations.

Regions covered