Avalanche Forecast
Kananaskis Country, Alberta Parks
The crust/new snow interface has different characteristics at different points in the terrain. Aspect & elevation play a role on how good or bad the bond is. Look at this interface, and anticipate changes in the terrain.
Avalanche Problem 1: Wind Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Use caution in lee areas. New snowfall mixed with wind loading is creating Wind Slabs.
- Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
Avalanche Summary
-Numerous loose dry our of alpine terrain. These all ran far on the crust. Most were small, sz1-1.5, but a few were larger at sz2.
-several storm & wind slabs up to sz2.5. The most notable was the bowl next to Ha Ling. This was directly observed at about 9am. Likely a windslab that pulled out storm slabs as it ran.
Snowpack Summary
Almost 30cm of snow fell yesterday. This storm came in slightly different than expected. Firstly, the snowpack didn't have a chance to cool and refreeze before the snow flew. As a result, the new snow is sitting on a moist layer at low elevations, or a firm crust ay higher elevations. Secondly, there was some wind at higher elevations. Windslabs are present on all easterly aspects in the alpine and treeline has a widespread stormslab. The valley bottom snowpack is nearly isothermal(bottomless) and doesn't gain strength until 1950m. Lots of settlements and cracking in the weak snow areas. So far none of the deeper layers have woken up.
Weather Forecast
A cloudy day for tomorrow with a daytime high of -8C. Light winds will continue for the next few days. No snow. Freezing level at valley bottom. The second pulse we were expecting has been down graded to only trace amounts for the week end.
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The alpine saw enough wind to build windslabs last night. At treeline, expect more of a settlement (or storm) slab.