Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Feb 22 – 23, 2020Avalanche Canada
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Archived · expired 7 years ago

Avalanche danger

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

Tomorrow will be similar to today weather wise. It could be worth sneaking in a longer day. Sunday may bring us some much needed snow.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    1–2.5

    Variable depth and density of wind slabs throughout the Alpine. These are most concerning in steep, convex and unsupported terrain.

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    1.5–3

    This is a classic "low probability, high consequence" problem. While it is difficult to trigger, resulting avalanches will be very large. Use caution in shallow snowpack areas where triggering is more of a concern.

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Temperatures will dip slightly tonight to -10 and warm up to -6 for tomorrow afternoon. Most of the day will be cloudy, but as evening approaches there will be a clearing trend. Temperatures will also fall to -20! No significant snow is expected tomorrow, but Sunday might bring some snow. Winds will continue to be gusty (up to 50km/hr) tomorrow and they'll be out of the SW.

Avalanche Summary

Nothing seen today.

Snowpack Summary

Variable winds have stripped many ridge lines and made for windslabs of varying thicknesses in open areas at treeline and above. In most areas these slabs sit on a solid midpack ranging in thickness from 50cm to well over a meter. And, as expected the deep layers are still with us and still concerning for large triggers. The crusts from past warm weather spells are still apparent in valley bottoms, but generally not a problem.

Terrain and Travel

  • Caution around convexities or sharp changes in terrain.

Regions covered