Additional snow is expected overnight on Friday with another pulse to arrive on Saturday night. Pay attention to overhead hazards and use conservative travel routes to avoid avalanche terrain.
Weather Forecast
The warm, heavy snowfall combined with moderate to strong Southwest winds is expected to continue through the night bringing additional snow to the Icefields area. On Saturday, the snow eases up during the day and will increase again overnight. A cold front will follow sometime on Sunday with colder temperatures and clearing skies.
Snowpack Summary
Between 10 - 30cm of warm heavy snow has fallen across the region with heavier deposits South of the icefields. Strong Southwest winds will redistribute this snow onto lee aspects making another slab over the previous snow surface. These heavier slabs may provide sufficient load for a slide to step down into deeper weak layers.
Avalanche Summary
Visibility is presently obscured along Highway 93, but one avlanche could be heard around the rampart creek hostel area. At lower elevations up to 1600m numerous loose snow avalanches released along the Highway corridor south of the Columbia Icefields. The heavy snow and possible rain may produce additional loose avalanches in the valley bottoms.
Confidence
Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Saturday
Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.