Avalanche control near B.C.-Alberta border today

FIELD – Drivers planning a later return from the Family Day long weekend may have a longer wait than anticipated because more avalanche control is taking place today.

Highway 1 and Highway 93 will be closed for short times this afternoon as crews control avalanches near the provincial border.

Drive B.C. shows Highway 1 closed from the border to 16 kilometres east of field for control measures from noon to 12:45 p.m. today, Feb. 9. Two separate sections of Highway 93 will then be closed, first a section running to the border, starting at 1:45 p.m., and then near Vermillion Crossing starting at 2:30 p.m.

Parks Canada is forecasting a high risk, or very dangerous, avalanche conditions at all elevations today in Banff, Yoho, Little Yoho and Kootenay National Parks while Glacier National Park is expected to be a high risk at the alpine level and considerable risk at all other levels.

All elevations of other ranges in the Southern Interior are at a considerable risk for avalanche today, according to Avalanche Canada, with some elevations expected to improve to a moderate risk Wednesday and Thursday.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infonews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.