Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Bow Valley, Highwood Pass, Kananaskis, North 40, Spray - KLakes.
Forecasted rating is for the warmest part of the day. Pay attention to the overnight freeze. Either finish the trip, or abort the mission before it warms up.
Helpful hint: the alpine is often sun exposed later into the evening, and earlier the following day than expected. Sometimes alpine freezes aren't as good as valley bottom.
Confidence
High
Avalanche Summary
As of 3pm, a couple of alpine slab avalanches were noted from yesterday's warming. Likely cornice, or solar input being the trigger. With lots of day left, we're expecting to receive reports of loose wet, wind slab and possibly wet slab avalanches.
Snowpack Summary
Below treeline snow depths and quality took a hit today. Lots of melting and an isothermic (slushy) snowpack by mid afternoon. With freezing levels over 3000m, expect temperature and sun crusts to be creeping onto all aspects. North, NE and E aspects may be less affected than the others due to the late day warming. Alpine windslabs have settled out with the warmth.
Weather Summary
Sunday will be slightly warmer the today. Overnight will see -6 as the low, with a daytime high of +6. Saturday's forecasted high was +3, but the actual temperature was +10 by 3pm. That's a significant difference, expect the same pattern on Sunday. Skies will be clear and winds will be light from the SW.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- The more the snowpack warms-up and weakens, the more conservative you`ll want to be with your terrain selection.
- Avoid thin areas like rock outcroppings where you're most likely to trigger avalanches failing on deep weak layers.
- Use caution above cliffs and terrain traps where even small avalanches may have severe consequences.
Avalanche Problems
Loose Wet
Needless to say temperature and sun exposure dictate the severity of this problem. Expect a very quick deterioration when the sun hits the slopes.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Very Likely - Certain
Expected Size: 1 - 2
Persistent Slabs
Similar to the deep problem, expect rapid warming to trigger this layer. We've seen individual snow patches "link" together to create wide propagations.
Aspects: North, North East, East, West, North West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible
Expected Size: 1.5 - 3
Deep Persistent Slabs
Falling cornices, sun warmed rocks and loose wet avalanches could easily trigger the deep layers. Avoid overhead exposure. Big slopes or confined features could easily run to valley bottom.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1.5 - 3