Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Mar 9 – 10, 2019Alberta Parks
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Archived · expired 8 years ago

Avalanche danger

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

Head's up for fresh wind slabs at higher elevations. Also, keep an eye on the effects of solar radiation. At the moment, it does not look to be a major concern according to the forecast, but if sunny skies prevail, this could change.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Variable winds have left us with new wind slabs in the alpine and upper treeline. These slabs sit on a weak layer of facets and will likely be sensitive to triggering in steeper terrain.

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    1.5–3
    What will wake up this layer? A skier/rider in a thin shallow snowpack area? Warmer temps with some solar radiation? A cornice failure? This layer deserves respect as any resulting avalanche will be full depth.

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Possible very light flurries to start the day Sunday should give way to mostly sunny skies and temperatures near -7 at ridge-top. Winds from the SW will pick up in the afternoon.

Avalanche Summary

A few new slides up to size 2.0 occurred in the past 24 hours, with the common denominators being N to E aspects, steep Alpine terrain, with fracture depths between 10 and 40cm. Some small solar triggered sluffs were also observed.

Snowpack Summary

Recent westerly winds have created new surface wind slabs near ridge crests and in alpine bowls on lee and cross-loaded features. These slabs also exist at treeline, but they are not as widespread. The formerly strong midpack has been decimated by a month of cold weather and is now highly variable in its density, with many areas exhibiting no structure at all. Much of the region's snowpack consists of recent wind slabs sitting on up to 80cm of depth hoar and facets. It will be interesting to see how the snowpack adjusts to the recent load and the forecasted warm temperatures. It is likely that full-depth avalanches will become more commonplace in the next few days.

Regions covered