Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Dec 16th, 2017 3:00PM

The alpine rating is low, the treeline rating is low, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Persistent Slabs.

Alberta Parks matt.mueller, Alberta Parks

We're almost through the drought. We'll see some flurries hopefully arrive over the next few days which will perk up the travel conditions and make it atleast look winter again.

Summary

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

There's light at the end of the tunnel! Some forecasts are saying up to 8cm of snow tomorrow. Winds will be out of the SW, and probably reach speeds of 45km/hr at treeline. Temperatures will range from -15 tonight, to -11 tomorrow afternoon. There is some more snow expected down the road, but we'll have to be patient. It arrives in small increments with a grand total of 20cm by wed.

Avalanche Summary

Like the rest of western Canada, we haven't seen an avalanche for over a week now.

Snowpack Summary

Our snowpack is looking a little worse for wear these days. The winds, temperatures and lack of snow have left a variety of surface layers- none of which are conducive to good skiing. Valley bottom has decomposing surface hoar that is covered with a dusting of snow from the past 24-36 hours. Treeline is a widespread wind slab surface covering the crusts from late november. The alpine is also severely wind affected and on any windward aspect its blown to gravel or the old crusts. The good news is that most trouble layers have temporarily glued themselves together and aren't posing a huge avalanche risk.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

An icon showing Persistent Slabs
This layer is widespread in terms of its location in the terrain. Its condition seems to vary from an intact crust to a facetted mish mash of weak grains. Thin areas that have a hard slab over top should be treated with caution.
Be cautious in shallow snowpack areas where triggering is more likely.

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

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Unlikely - Possible

Expected Size

2 - 3

Valid until: Dec 17th, 2017 2:00PM

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