Avalanche forecast

Jasper

Feb 19 – 20, 2019Parks Canada
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Archived · expired 8 years ago

Avalanche danger

Wed
Thu
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Manage your exposure and keep wary to evidence of localized instability such as cracking, whumphing and, recent avalanche activity.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Dry

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Sun can act as a trigger to initiate the loose unconsolidated surface snow particularly in steep rocky terrain. Definitely a problem ice climbers should keep on radar where a small slide can quickly gain mass particularly in terrain traps.

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1.5–3
    It is possible to trigger deep slabs in shallow snowpack areas. Terrain management and assessment is critical to a safe day.

Weather Forecast

Tuesday will be clouds with sun and isolated flurries, alpine temperature high -11 °C, and West 10-25 km/h winds. Wednesday will be a mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries, alpine temperature  low -20 °C and high -10 °C, Northeast 10-30 km/h winds. A detailed mountain weather forecast is available from Avalanche Canada.

Snowpack Summary

Cold temps have faceted the upper snowpack leaving a weak slab over a instability of surface hoar/facets on a crust down 40cm. The thicker spots have a strong mid-pack and bridges the deep persistent basal weakness of depth hoar. A thinner snow-pack can act as a slab initiating the basal facets and depth hoar in the lower part of the snowpack.

Avalanche Summary

No patrol on Monday and nothing new reported. Saturday's field team in Whistler Creek had good ski conditions and no new avalanches in the zone. Recently numerous dry loose up to sz 1 have come out of steep, planar terrain across the forecast region.

Confidence

Regions covered