Avalanche forecast

Jasper

Dec 6 – 7, 2012Parks Canada
View on map
Archived · expired 14 years ago

Avalanche danger

Thu
Fri
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
3 · Considerable
Below
1 · Low
Open full map

Highlights

Periodic road closures may be in affect on Thursday for avalanche control in the Icefields area with delays of up to 2 hours. Check the AMA road report after 0900 hours to confirm if control actions are taking place.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–3
    Gusting Southwest winds are moving 20cm of  storm snow onto Northeast aspect ridgetops and lee terrain features. Triggering a windslab may provide the energy for an avalanche to step down to the persistent weakness described below.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    2–3
    A persistent facetted weakness can be found around a mid-pack crust. Saturday, an isolated size 3 slab avalanche on a steep Northerly slope in the Hilda Creek area likely ran on this layer. No other avalanches have been observed on this layer.

Weather Forecast

Winds and snow are tapering off overnight. Temperatures are expected to get cooler.  A clearing trend is expected to arrive in time for the weekend.

Snowpack Summary

Twenty cms of new snow overnight. Moderate Southwest winds at ridgetop this afternoon are redistributing recent storm snow to lee aspects. This may provide the load to cause natural avalanches on the midpack facet layers around the November 01 crust.

Avalanche Summary

No New avalanche observations due to obscured visibility. 

Confidence

Due to the number of field observations

Regions covered