Bulletin d’avalanche

Kananaskis

Mar 17 – 18, 2017Alberta Parks
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Archivé · expiré 10 years ago

Danger d’avalanche

Sun
Mon
Alpin
4 · Fort
Limite forestière
4 · Fort
Sous la limite
4 · Fort
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Points saillants

Avoid backcountry travel for the time being. Recent avalanches have gone further than expected. In some case, mature trees have been taken down. A great time for the groomed XC ski trails or resorts!

Problèmes avalancheux

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Very Likely
    Taille
    2–3
    These still exist from previous storms and are buried under 20-40cm of newer snow. They will be especially hard to identify with the new snow.

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Very Likely
    Taille
    1–3
    Warm temps, wind and new snow are the perfect mix for storm slab development. Given the winds, expect these to reach well below ridgelines. Lower elevations will likely have "settlement" slabs as the warm snow quickly settles

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Likely
    Taille
    2–4
    Any avalanche initiated in the upper snowpack could step down to the weak basal layers resulting in a very large avalanche. New snow and wind will add a significant and rapid load to this layer. This is a scary layer with huge destructive power!

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Tonight will see another storm arrive from the SW. This will be with us for a day and bring significant amounts of snow. The main pulse is expected tomorrow and will leave just over 30cm. With the snow, we'll also see strong to extreme winds. At 2500m we're expecting SW winds 55-65km/hr. The temperatures will also creep up to -1° at 2500m.

Avalanche Summary

Nothing new was seen today, however clear skies offered a view of the extent of the last cycle. Alpine & treeline elevations had numerous avalanches on all aspects. All of them involved the deep layers. In terms of size, 2.5 to 3.5 avalanches were common. Crowns were up to 1.5m deep with very wide propagations.

Snowpack Summary

No new snow has fallen in the region today. The winds however have been moderate to strong in the alpine and have helped to build the windslabs. The re-distribution has caused localized loading in lee areas. An already stressed snowpack is struggling to support the new load. The cooler temps and cloud cover today helped to minimize the sun's effect and keep the surface snow cool. The principle concern at all elevations and aspects is still the deep, basal weak layers. The windslabs are a problem in themselves, but the bigger issue is the slabs' ability to trigger the deeper layers. Cornices are another large trigger that will almost certainly initiate a deep avalanche.

Régions couvertes