Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Dec 10 – 11, 2016Alberta Parks
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Archived · expired 10 years ago

Avalanche danger

Sun
Mon
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Carefully evaluate Alpine terrain due to the presence of buried wind slabs. The character, distribution and triggerability of these slabs seems highly variable.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Buried wind slabs are found along ridge-crests in the Alpine. Though generally small, if these slabs are triggered they may entrain the loose snow to create larger than expected avalanches. There is a high degree of variability across terrain.

Confidence

Moderate -

Weather Forecast

Sunday will be cloudy with isolated  light flurries and a high near  -15 °C. Monday will see a return to cold and clear conditions with temperatures back into the -20 to -25 range.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches were observed or reported today.

Snowpack Summary

Trace to 3cm of new snow in past 24hrs has added to an average of 15cm of low density snow overlying buried wind slabs in the Alpine. These slabs are 5 to 15cm thick and sit on a pronounced layer of weak facets just above the Nov 12th crust layer which is now buried between 40 and 60cm. Snowpack stability tests are giving widely variable results below these buried wind slabs.

Regions covered