Avalanche Forecast
South Rockies
Freezing levels above the mountain tops and sunny skies are warming the snowpack, particularly around midday. Best to avoid sunny slopes and overhead avalanche terrain. Read our blog on the impact of warming.
Avalanche Problem 1: Deep Persistent Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Pay attention to overhead hazards like cornices which could trigger deep persistent slabs.
- Avoid steep, rocky, and shallow snowpack areas where triggering deeper layers is more likely.
- Steep, south facing slopes are the most likely areas to trigger deeper layers.
Avalanche Problem 2: Loose Wet
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
High freezing levels and sunny skies are causing intense warming of the snowpack on solar aspects. Peak danger will likely be during afternoon hours. Pay close attention to the effects of the sun on avalanche terrain and avoid overhead exposure.
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Start early to stay off south facing slopes during the heat of the day.
- Watch for signs that the snow is heating up such as pin-wheeling and point-releases below cliffs.
- Avoid terrain traps such as gullies and cliffs where small avalanches can have high consequence.
Avalanche Summary
Loose wet avalanches were noted on solar aspects to size 1.5 on Sunday. Some of these triggered small slabs, about 10 cm deep.
The forecast warming and sunshine may wake up a deeper weak layer on steep south facing slopes resulting in large and destructive avalanches.
Snowpack Summary
Warm air temperatures and daytime sun have produced moist snow on solar aspects into the alpine and moist snow on all aspects up to around 1400 m. On shady aspects at higher elevations, expect to find wind slabs in lee features and loose dry in sheltered features.
Cornices are large and prone to failure with warm air temperatures and sunny skies.
The upper/mid-pack is generally well-settled and strong. The lower snowpack is weak with a combination of crusts and facets near the bottom of the snowpack that are widespread. The primary concern is the potential of these deeper persistent weak layers becoming active by rapid warming of the snowpack through rising freezing levels and intense solar radiation. This is most likely to occur on south-facing slopes.
Weather Forecast
TUESDAY: Sunny, light southwesterly winds, alpine temperature 3 C, freezing level 3100 m.
WEDNESDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light southwesterly winds, alpine temperature 3 C, freezing level 2500 m.
THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy with light snowfall, accumulation 2 to 5 cm, light westerly winds, alpine temperature -2 C, freezing level 1500 m.
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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?
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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.
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Deeply buried weak layers linger near the base of the snowpack. These layers are most likely to be triggered from thin snowpack areas. Avoid lingering below corniced ridges, as a cornice fall could trigger deeper layers.