Warm temperatures are causing uncertainty on Wednesday but will stabilize later in the week.
Mt Stephen, Mt Field, Mt Dennis, Mt Bosworth and Cathedral Mountain are CLOSED on Wednesday, January 14th. See banner above for more info.
30-60 cm new snow over the last few days with strong westerly winds has formed windslabs in exposed alpine and treeline areas. These have been less reactive than expected but could still surprise you.
Surface hoar buried January 3 sits 30–60 cm deep. Warming may help stiffen the overlying slab and increase reactivity where this layer exists. While not widespread, recent reports include small avalanches failing on this layer. Dig down and test for reactivity.
Basal facets remain near the ground. Red flags are fewer where the snowpack is deep, but on the eastern side of the forecast area, particularly in thin to thick snowpack transitions, the potential for deep slab avalanches remain.
Parks Canada conducted a heli-bombing mission on the Sunshine access road today and got minimal results. 8/18 shots triggered windslabs that were size 1 to small size 2.
Ski hills were reporting fewer results than expected but both were reporting touchy cornices with Sunshine triggering a size 2 with shoveling. Lake Louise patrollers triggered a couple size 1 windslabs in lee alpine terrain that failed ~ 50 cm deep but not on the first ski cut.
30-70 cm of recent snow with W-SW wind has formed windslabs. In sheltered areas below treeline, this new snow sits on a layer of surface hoar buried on Jan 3. This layer is spotty but is more prominent in western areas.
Warming temps on Jan 13th are causing moist surface snow to treeline.
50-90 cm overlies the Dec 15 melt-freeze crust, present to 1800-2000 m, and 100-200 cm over the November facet/crust interfaces. In thinner snowpack areas, facets are present at the base
A ridge of high pressure is building over the region bringing dry conditions for the foreseeable future. Overnight Tuesday, a warm layer of air will bring freezing levels quite high (~ 3000m), but cooling will start on Wednesday with more seasonal temperatures on Thursday and Friday. Winds will be moderate to strong from the West on Wednesday which may keep things cooler, but ease on Thursday.
