Avalanche Forecast
Avalanche Bulletin - Jasper National Park
New windslabs are expected to be building overnight on Friday. Use caution moving into upper elevations.
Avalanche Problem 1: Wind Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Caution in lee and cross-loaded terrain near ridge crests.
Avalanche Problem 2: Loose Dry
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Point releases have the ability to entrain new snow and accumulate significant mass.
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Avoid terrain traps, such as gullies, where the consequences of a small avalanche could be serious.
Avalanche Problem 3: Persistent Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Control work on Wednesday produced several results on this layer, particularly in the alpine where storm slabs were able to entrain enough mass to step down to mid-pack instabilities.
Travel and Terrain Advice
- If triggered the storm slabs may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
Avalanche Summary
Avalanche control on Wednesday along the Icefields Parkway produced numerous size 3 avalanches in the alpine, and many size 2-2.5 storm slab and loose avalanches at all elevations. Persistent slab avalanches were produced in the alpine where wind loaded areas provided enough of a trigger to step down to these layers.
Snowpack Summary
40cm of recent storm snow has been pushed around by intermittently moderate to strong SW winds and created fresh windslabs in exposed areas, particularly in the alpine. In sheltered areas, this new snow sits as a touchy storm slab in many locations. Midpack persistent weak layers (Jan 16, Jan 7, and Dec 15) are still a concern but remain stubborn.
Weather Forecast
A warm and wet airmass is colliding into a cold dry airmass along the continental divide. This is expected to produce significant snowfall, amounts for the Jasper forecast region is expected to be 10-30cm overnight on Friday. After this precipitation pulse, there will be a cooling trend and calm winds with minimal precipitation.
Avalanche Forecasts in your Inbox
Avalanche Canada has switched to an RSS feed for its daily forecasts. This is a much more flexible method that allows automatic delivery to your email inbox, or to an RSS reader of your choice.
What are RSS feeds?
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a popular standardized file format allowing up-to-date delivery of web-based content. RSS feeds enable you to receive content updates from websites, delivered to your email through an RSS aggregator (such as blogtrottr.com) or viewed through applications called RSS readers (such as feedly.com).
Set up an RSS feed for your email:
Select a RSS aggregator
- Avalanche Bulletin - Jasper National Park URL:
http://www.avalanche.ca/api/forecasts/jasper.rss - Copy the url and paste it into the appropriate field of your RSS aggregator.
- Fill in your email address.
- Voila! Watch the Avalanche Canada forecast roll into your inbox.
Forecast Disclaimer
Avalanche Canada's Public Avalanche Bulletin, and other information and services provided by Avalanche Canada, are intended for personal and recreational purposes only.
**THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND IN NO EVENT SHALL THE PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES RESULTING FROM DISCOMFORT, INJURY, OR DEATH, CLAIMS BY THIRD PARTIES OR FOR OTHER SIMILAR COSTS, OR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THE INFORMATION.**
The user acknowledges that it is impossible to accurately predict natural events such as avalanches in every instance, and uses the data in this bulletin with this always foremost in mind. The accuracy or reliability of the data is not guaranteed or warranted in any way and the Providers disclaim liability of any kind whatsoever, including, without limitation, liability for quality, performance, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose arising out of the use, or inability to use the data.
This is the primary concern at all elevations. The new snow has settled into a touchy soft slab in many locations. This presents as a windslab in exposed areas, such as cross loaded and lee features at upper elevations.