South Rockies

Lingering wind slab and persistent slab problems are keeping avalanche danger in a holding pattern. Sunshine and warming are set to undermine stability later in the week.

Moderate -

Tuesday: A mix of sun and cloud and no new snow. Light northwest winds. Alpine temperatures around -5.Wednesday: Mainly sunny. Light west winds. Freezing level rising to 1300 metres with a strong alpine temperature inversion beginning in the afternoon. Alpine temperatures around -4 and rising with the onset of the inversion. Thursday: Mainly sunny. Light west winds. Freezing level rising to 3500 metres with alpine temperatures around +5. Cooler temperatures at lower elevations due to strong alpine temperature inversion.

No new avalanches have been reported from this region. There is potential for triggering wind slabs on leeward slopes and dry loose avalanches from steeper terrain features. Smaller avalanches may step down and trigger larger avalanches on buried weak layers deeper in the snowpack. Please submit your observations this weekend to the Mountain Information Network.

The snowpack remains highly variable with very little information regarding snowpack structure within the region. Average snowpack depths at upper elevations range from 60-110 cm with scoured snow surfaces on southwesterly slopes and deeper pockets of wind slab on northeasterly slopes. Below the surface exists a series of crusts that were buried near the end of November approximately 40 cm and 70 cm down. Deeper in the snowpack a third crust from the end of October exists as a "facet/crust" combo and has been identified as a potential sliding interface where snowpack testing North of the region (Kananaskis Country) has yielded hard but sudden results on this layer.