Avalanche forecast

Jasper

Feb 5 – 6, 2023Avalanche Canada
View on map
Archived · expired 4 years ago

Avalanche danger

Tue
Wed
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
Open full map

Highlights

Strong winds continue to build wind slab at treeline and above. Watch for wind slab development farther down slopes than usual. Tuesday may bring a 20-30cm storm but weather models are uncertain.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–2

    Strong to extreme winds are building wind slabs with the recent snow. Watch for wind slab development on top of the Jan 27th melt freeze crust.

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–3

    The bottom of the snow pack is inherently weak with well developed Facets and Depth Hoar. Avalanches initiating in the upper snowpack are likely to step down to this layer and gain significant mass.

Weather Summary

Sunday will be clouds, sun, flurries, -5 °C, and moderate West winds. Monday could bring 5cm of snow and moderate Southwest winds. Tuesday will be snow and possibly up to 20cm with moderate to strong winds.

Detailed weather forecasts from Avalanche Canada: https://avalanche.ca/weather/forecast

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • In areas where deep persistent slabs may exist, avoid shallow or variable depth snowpacks and unsupported terrain features.
  • Watch for signs of slab formation throughout the day.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Feb 4th Icefield patrol was good visibility. Nothing new was observed. On Jan 31st, a skier triggered a size 1 avalanche in the Buck Lake area.

Don't forget to post avalanche observations to the MIN.

Snowpack Summary

Strong southwest wind is stripping snow in exposed alpine features and creating wind slab into exposed tree line. A thin melt freeze crust down 25cm below 2100m is showing sudden collapse results in snow pit tests below this layer on facets. Generally, the bottom of the snowpack is weak facets and depth hoar. The snowpack ranges from 50 to 120cm.

Regions covered