Avalanche Forecast
Kananaskis Country, Alberta Parks
So far our spring is slow to develop. Our spring-like snowpack of last week has gone back to being more of a winter snowpack. Keep the "winter radar" on for the next while.
Avalanche Problem 1: Wind Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Avoid steep lee and cross-loaded slopes
- Avoid freshly wind loaded features.
- Evaluate unsupported slopes critically.
Avalanche Summary
Nothing new today, but field observations were very limited. The weather pattern suggests that the isolated activity noted yesterday probably continued into today.
Snowpack Summary
Wind and flurries continue to join forces and create new windslabs in the alpine and exposed treeline terrain. These slabs have been building for the past few days and are getting thicker, more widespread and more sensitive. Natural activity indicates the slabs are up to 70cm thick in wind prone areas. The slabs rest on a variety of surfaces, most of which are aspect or elevation dependant. The march 15 crust is the most concerning buried layer. It is widespread on any solar aspect. The other problematic buried layers are the interfaces between the windslabs themselves. Typically these "heal" up quickly, but we're finding that once one "heals" and goes away, it is replaced with another shallower one.
Weather Forecast
Isolated flurries tonight with winds gusting to 55km/hr (westerly). Alpine low of -12. Tomorrow will see -11 as the high and winds continuing to blow from the west at 25-40km/hr. No snow is expected tomorrow.
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
- Kananaskis Country, Alberta Parks URL:
http://www.avalanche.ca/api/forecasts/kananaskis.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.
Extensive wind slab development has occurred in the Alpine and in lee and cross-loaded features at Treeline. Expect some natural avalanche activity in steep terrain and be aware that human-triggering is likely in recently wind loaded features.