Avalanche Forecast
South Rockies
There is significant uncertainty with forecast snowfall amounts on Sunday. Watch for signs of instability, such as cracking, whumpfing, and avalanche activity at higher elevations.
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Keep an eye out for localized areas of deeper snow accumulation, particularly on eastern slopes.
- Observe for signs of instability, such as cracking, whumpfing, and avalanche activity.
- Use caution in lee areas in the alpine and tree line, especially east facing slopes.
Avalanche Summary
Many wet loose and dry loose avalanches to size 1.5 were reported on sunny aspects on Friday. Isolated natural storm slab activity to size 2 was also noted on east facing fan features, likely running during Thursday's storm. See this MIN post for more information.
Snowpack Summary
Around 20 to 30 mm of water equivalent fell in the region on Thursday into Friday. This would have fallen as snow at higher elevations (up to 25 cm of snow) and partially as rain at low elevations. This precipitation fell on a thick melt-freeze crust that exists on all aspects from recent warm temperatures and rain, except for possibly higher elevations on north aspects.
Sunny conditions on Friday (and some locations on Saturday as well) created moist surface snow on sunny aspects, which froze to form a 2-5 cm thick crust overnight.
A weak layer of surface hoar buried mid-February exists in parts of the region around 50 to 80 cm deep. The lower snowpack is weak with a combination of crusts and facets near the bottom of the snowpack that are widespread.
Weather Forecast
Significant uncertainty exists with the formation of the weather-making lows in Alberta and Montana. Precipitation totals of 5mm for Sunday are most likely, but 10mm + could be possible as well.
SUNDAY: Cloudy in the morning; light snowfall late in the day (accumulation 5 to 10 cm). Light northerly winds. Alpine temperature -1 C. Freezing level 1400 m.
MONDAY: Cloudy with isolated flurries. Moderate westerly winds. Alpine temperature +1 C. Freezing level rising to 1600 m.
TUESDAY: Cloudy with sunny breaks. Light westerly winds. Alpine temperature +2 C. Freezing level 1700 m.
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
- South Rockies URL:
http://www.avalanche.ca/api/forecasts/south-rockies.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.
Watch for signs of poor bonding of the new snow with underlying surfaces, especially the March 15th crust, which can be found almost everywhere except high north facing aspects.