Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 27th, 2018 3:00PM

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

matt.mueller, Alberta Parks

Kananaskis.

So far our spring is slow to develop. Our spring-like snowpack of last week has gone back to being more of a winter snowpack. Keep the "winter radar" on for the next while.

Summary

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Isolated flurries tonight with winds gusting to 55km/hr (westerly). Alpine low of -12. Tomorrow will see -11 as the high and winds continuing to blow from the west at 25-40km/hr. No snow is expected tomorrow.

Avalanche Summary

Nothing new today, but field observations were very limited. The weather pattern suggests that the isolated activity noted yesterday probably continued into today.

Snowpack Summary

Wind and flurries continue to join forces and create new windslabs in the alpine and exposed treeline terrain. These slabs have been building for the past few days and are getting thicker, more widespread and more sensitive. Natural activity indicates the slabs are up to 70cm thick in wind prone areas. The slabs rest on a variety of surfaces, most of which are aspect or elevation dependant. The march 15 crust is the most concerning buried layer. It is widespread on any solar aspect. The other problematic buried layers are the interfaces between the windslabs themselves. Typically these "heal" up quickly, but we're finding that once one "heals" and goes away, it is replaced with another shallower one.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Extensive wind slab development has occurred in the Alpine and in lee and cross-loaded features at Treeline. Expect some natural avalanche activity in steep terrain and be aware that human-triggering is likely in recently wind loaded features.

Avoid steep lee and cross-loaded slopesAvoid freshly wind loaded features.Evaluate unsupported slopes critically.

Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South, South West.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible - Likely

Expected Size

1.5 - 2.5

Valid until: Mar 28th, 2018 2:00PM