Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Jan 1st, 2013 4:00PM

The alpine rating is moderate, the treeline rating is low, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Wind Slabs and Loose Dry.

mike eder, Parks Canada

Jasper.

The Jasper Visitor Safety team wishes you all a happy, safe New Year full of perfect turns.

Summary

Weather Forecast

No new snow is expected until the weekend. Valley bottom temperatures will hover around 0 C through to Thursday with some daytime melting in the valley bottoms in the afternoons. Winds will remain light from the West at lower elevations and more Moderate Northwest winds will move snow around at the ridgetops.

Snowpack Summary

Snowpack is faceting and losing strength in shallow areas. Midpack is still generally supportive above treeline, with wind slabs in lee features at upper elevations. New surface hoar is being observed on the surface and is quite widespread below treeline.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches were observed in the icefields area today. Cooler temperatures and light clouds reduced the number of loose snow avalanches occurring on steep rocks. Cornice control on Sunday at Marmot Basin did not trigger any slabs in the slopes below.

Confidence

The weather pattern is stable on Wednesday

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind slabs can be found above treeline in exposed terrain. These slabs are generally unreactive to skier traffic, although it is still possible to trigger a slab in steep wind loaded features.

Avoid steep lee and cross-loaded features

Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Unlikely - Possible

Expected Size

1 - 3

Loose Dry

Numerous natural loose dry avalanches were observed in the past 48 hours. These slides originated from steep, rocky terrain in the alpine, as well as steep alpine gully features that are in the sun during the heat of the day.

Be very cautious with gully features.

Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Jan 2nd, 2013 4:00PM