Avalanche forecast

Jasper

Dec 20 – 21, 2013Parks Canada
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Archived · expired 13 years ago

Avalanche danger

Fri
Sat
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
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Highlights

Early season conditions persist. Pay attention to wind loaded features and watch for hazards lurking below the surface.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–3
    Increased winds from the south and west have contributed to a new load on alpine lees. 

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    2–3
    A patchy rain crust continues to linger making stability suspect on features that hold early season snow.

Weather Forecast

Winds as switching to southerly and bring light snow across the area for the next couple days. Temperatures will be seasonal, between -10 and -20.

Snowpack Summary

Wind transport has been evident at alpine ridge crests. Any windslab development on lee terrain features will be over-lie extremely weak basal layers.

Avalanche Summary

A size 2.5 slab occurred today at 2500m on a south easterly slope near the Whirlpool drainage. From a distance this,  slab looked  like a thin windslab over basal facets and ran to ground.  While there is variable snow distribution on the landscape, there is still potential for slab avalanches to occur in isolated terrain.

Confidence

Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain

Regions covered