Avalanche forecast

Banff Yoho Kootenay

Apr 3 – 4, 2019Parks Canada
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Avalanche danger

Fri
Sat
Alpine
No rating
Treeline
No rating
Below
No rating
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Highlights

Forecasters have transitioned to springtime danger ratings. Thursday should remain cooler but watch locally for solar input as this will raise the danger rating.

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
    Likely a cooler day with forecasted cloud cover for Thursday and crusts will likely remain intact for the day. Monitor the solar input and daytime heating to avoid any gully features where wet snow may run.

Weather Forecast

A mix of sun and cloud tomorrow with a trace of snow in the AM. The day will stay fairly cool with valley bottoms in the 2 to 5C range and 3000m temperatures -8 to -10C. Some solar input for the afternoon but will be localized depending on cloud cover. Winds will be west and strong at 3000m diminishing in the afternoon.

Snowpack Summary

The snow surface is 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