Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Nov 28th, 2012–Nov 29th, 2012

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Kananaskis.

Not much change observed on Wednesday but change is coming with new snow and increasing winds leading into Friday and the weekend so look for Avalanche Danger to rise, especially in the Alpine elevation zone..

Confidence

Good

Weather Forecast

The ridge of high pressure is breaking down with 10-15cm of new snow expected by later on Friday. Winds will increase into strong to extreme range over the next 48 hours.

Avalanche Summary

A few loose snow slides up to size 2.0 were observed on steep N and E aspects in the alpine in the Highwood Pass area but little new activity has been observed elsewhere.

Snowpack Summary

A couple of new snow profiles again today further highlighted weaknesses associated with the November raincrust.  Compression tests continued to produce results below the rain crust in the moderate range. There is also evidence of on-going wind slab formation in the alpine, but this is not present in all locations.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind 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.

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.