New snow and wind on Thursday will form a storm slab, watch for rapidly changing conditions.
New windslabs will be forming in the storm and will sit on old windslabs from extreme winds earlier in the week. Beware of lee features and steep gullies.
New snow will build a storm slab throughout the day Thursday. These slabs may be forming quickly; watch for signs of instability including cracking and recent avalanche activity.
A natural size 1 avalanche occurred on Parkers from a glide slab on Wednesday.
How to navigate Early Season Conditions
New snow will be falling on a variable snowpack. Recent extreme winds that scoured much of the alpine also deposited snow into gullies and lee features creating windslabs and variability in snow depth. There is approximately 50-100cms of snow in the alpine, 50cms at treeline, and 30cm below treeline. Early season hazards exist just below the surface.
A storm is forecasted to arrive Thursday bringing up to 30cm to the Parkway and more (possibly up to 50cm) in some high elevation areas by Friday. Moderate, gusting strong winds will accompany the precipitation and freezing levels are expected to rise to 1800m.
For updated forecasts go to Jasper National Park Forecast.
