Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Apr 10th, 2017 3:00PM

The alpine rating is considerable, the treeline rating is considerable, and the below treeline rating is moderate. Known problems include Deep Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs and Loose Dry.

Alberta Parks jeremy.mackenzie, Alberta Parks

Forecasted snowfall amounts are highly varied. Keep a close eye on localized conditions. Hazard levels will increase with more snow load and moderate winds.

Summary

Confidence

Low - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain

Weather Forecast

Tuesday will be mostly cloudy, but precipitation forecasts vary considerably. Some models show 2 to 3cm of snow, while others are calling for up to 25cm. Winds will be moderate from the East, with Alpine temperatures near -6 °C. Precipitation amounts continue to be inconsistent for the remainder of the week.

Avalanche Summary

A few loose dry avalanches up to size 1.5 observed in the Alpine today, primarily in steep un-skiable terrain.

Snowpack Summary

An additional 10cm of new snow at Treeline overnight. This sits on a supportive crust on solar aspects and on all aspects below 2100m. On sheltered polar aspects above 2100m recent snow falls now sit at 25 to 30cm, which sluffs easily with ski cutting in steep terrain. Isolated pockets of wind slab were observed in the Alpine. Surface snow was moist by late morning on direct solar aspects at 2500m, and at lower elevations moist snow was observed on all aspects. The basal facets are still lurking and have produced moderate sudden collapse shears in recent stability tests. Despite it starting to look like spring, the snowpack in the Alpine is still very much winter like. Remember any slope that hasn't yet released has the potential to fail deep in the snowpack resulting in a large avalanche.

Problems

Deep Persistent Slabs

An icon showing Deep Persistent Slabs
Renew your respect for this layer as the new loading ramps up. We are unsure of how it will handle any additional load. Alpine wind loading and cornice failure is particularly concerning.
Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain, large avalanches may reach the end of run out zones.Be wary of slopes that did not previously avalanche.Pay attention to overhead hazards like cornices which could easily trigger deep slabs.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Unlikely - Possible

Expected Size

2 - 4

Storm Slabs

An icon showing Storm Slabs
An up-slope storm may drop as much as 25cm in the region with moderate winds. If this occurs, fresh storm slabs will develop on all aspects and they will likely be easy to trigger. Forecasted precipitation amounts are uncertain.
Keep an eye out for reverse loading created by an upslope storm.Avoid freshly wind loaded features.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

1 - 2

Loose Dry

An icon showing Loose Dry
Expect heavy sluffing in steep terrain on all aspects if the forecasted storm comes true.
Be cautious of sluffing in steep terrain.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Apr 11th, 2017 2:00PM