Avalanche forecast

Jasper

Feb 3 – 4, 2023Avalanche Canada
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Archived · expired 4 years ago

Avalanche danger

Sun
Mon
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Strong winds are moving snow around. Watch for wind slab development farther down slopes than usual.

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.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

One skier triggered size 1 avalanche occurred in the Buck Lake area on Jan 31st.

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.

Weather Summary

Friday

Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries.

Precipitation: Trace.

Alpine temperature: High -6 °C.

Ridge wind southwest: 20-40 km/h.

Freezing level at valley bottom.

Saturday

Mainly cloudy with scattered flurries.

Accumulation: 4 cm.

Alpine temperature: Low -10 °C, High -6 °C.

Ridge wind southwest: 20 km/h gusting to 45 km/h.

Freezing level at valley bottom.

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.

Regions covered