Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Dec 20 – 21, 2015Alberta Parks
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Archived · expired 11 years ago

Avalanche danger

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

Watch for storm slabs at higher elevations, as these could be sensitive to human-triggering in steep terrain. Pay attention as you transition to wind affected snow.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Dry

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–2
    Recent wind and snowfall has led to sluffing in steep terrain in the Alpine. These slides could pick up significant mass in confined terrain features.

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–3
    Fresh wind slabs are building in immediate lees along ridge-lines and in cross-loaded features in Alpine terrain and just into Treeline. These slabs are sensitive to human triggering in steeper terrain and in convex and unsupported features.

Confidence

High

Weather Forecast

Tonight could see SW winds reaching 70km/h. Monday will be mainly cloudy with no precipitation expected. Temperatures should reach a high of -11 °C in the Alpine. Winds are expected to be out of the SW at 15-30 km/h.

Avalanche Summary

Numerous loose dry avalanches up to size 1.0 were observed in extreme terrain in the Alpine.

Snowpack Summary

2 to 4cm of new snow overnight brings storm snow totals up to near 20cm at Treeline. The recent snow is low density except above 2300m where storm slabs have built over the last 2 days. Cornices are beginning to grow. The Dec 4th persistent weak layer is still found below 2100m, but seems dormant at the moment.

Regions covered