Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Mar 14 – 15, 2015Alberta Parks
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Archived · expired 12 years ago

Avalanche danger

Mon
Tue
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
3 · Considerable
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

New snow is falling at higher elevations at this time and strong SW winds are creating fresh storm slabs.  Temperature are forecast to cool overnight and throughout Sunday.  Ski conditions still remain quite rugged.

Avalanche problems

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–3
    New storm slabs are building along ridgelines.  and in gullied terrain in the Alpine and at treeline.

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    2–5
    Weak layers at the base of the snowpack may still be triggerred from variable or thin snowpack areas.

Confidence

Fair - Freezing levels are uncertain on Sunday

Weather Forecast

Freezing levels are forecast to begin to drop tonight as the main bulk of the precipitation passes over us.  Winds are expected to ease into the light range as the front passes.  We may see another 8cm of snow fall overnight giving us an expected storm snow total of 15cm.

Avalanche Summary

Only a few loose wet slides were observed on Saturday.  Conditions were obscured for most of the day.

Snowpack Summary

Up to 7cm of snow fell throughout the day on Saturday with moderate westerly winds at treeline and above.  New thin storm slabs are building on north and east aspects.  These new slabs are overlying a variety of different snow surfaces depending on aspect at elevation.  In the Alpine, they are overlying temperature crusts on all aspects except for true north.  At treeline they are overlying widespread temperature crusts.  Below this elevation most of the recent precipitation fell as rain.  In many areas down low, the snowpack is isothermal.

Regions covered