Monday, April 14 – Wednesday, April 16

On Monday a cold upper trough from the Gulf of Alaska will spread inland into Northern BC entering the Alberta Rockies first at Marmot Basin during the morning hours. 

As this cold front slowly moves southward, periods of light snowfall will develop at the SkiBig3 resorts by mid to late afternoon with the heaviest snow showers falling overnight on Monday. The snow tapers off to occasional flurries by Tuesday morning. Lake Louise and Sunshine Village look best situated for 10 – 15 cm, with 5 – 10 cm at Marmot Basin and Norquay by first chair Tuesday morning. Light to moderate SW winds Monday. 

Periods of snow continue through Tuesday morning as light NE winds develop behind the exiting cold front kicking in upslope snowfall. Generally, an additional 3 – 8 cm for the SkiBig3 resorts (Sunshine looks best positioned), with Nakiska (closed until Friday) seeing 10 – 15 cm through midnight Tuesday. 

Be ready for a cool down behind the cold front, as alpine highs (2000m) only look to top out around -5C on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Sunshine Village Forecast Board looks best...

Lake Louise just slightly less...

A surface ridge builds in from the north on Wednesday drying things out but with N/NE winds, it looks to stay unseasonably cool (at least for April standards) with alpine highs around -6C. Skies look to be mainly cloudy across the range with some lingering flurries across K-Country and the south Alberta Rockies.  

**Just a note that Nakiska announced a ‘Bonus Long Weekend’ reopening from April 19 through April 21.  

The surface ridge looks to hang over the Rockies through the end of the work week. There will be plenty of cloud cover and chances of flurries on Thursday with possible trace accumulations. Dryer skies are likely on Friday with a mix of sun and cloud. 

Worth noting is that northerly to NE winds will keep temps below seasonal averages with alpine highs only expected to be in the -4C to -6C range daily through Friday. Between these temps and the abundant cloud cover, winterlike conditions could hang on across most Alberta resorts, at least from mid-mountain on up. 

An upper ridge is being favored by the weather models to build over the region through the weekend. This will return springlike temps as well as mostly sunny skies for Saturday and Sunday. 

Thanks for reading. My next storm update will be on Wednesday morning.  

Until then,

Powder Out,  

Bob 

Alberta Rockies Ski Resorts & Areas / North & South Regions are solely for Geographic References.

 North Region:  ( * denotes SkiBig3 resorts )

*Banff/Sunshine Village   Slush Cup!!  Closing Day May 20 

*Lake Louise Ski Resort   Closing Day May 5

*Mt Norquay  Closing Day April 21    

Marmot Basin    Closing Day May 5

 

 South Region:

Castle Mountain  Closed for the Season  

Fortress / KPOW Cat Skiing  - Check Ahead  

Nakiska  Bonus Long Weekend April 19 – 21 

Pass Powderkeg  - Closed for the Season

 

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