Forecast for Tuesday to Thursday:

High pressure will result in dry and sunny conditions during this period with spring skiing conditions expected. It will be a beautiful period to get out and enjoy the sun, with firm conditions in the mornings giving way to softening conditions in the afternoons.

High temperatures at mid-mountain elevations will generally range from 0 to 2ºC across the Interior and 2 to 5ºC across the Coast Range.

Forecast for Friday to Saturday:

A pattern change remains on for late this week as a strom originating in the Gulf of Alaska approaches. The storm will dig offshore from the Pacific Coast before moving inland with southwest winds aloft throughout Southern BC. 

This is looking like a solid late season storm for most of Southern BC, and cold air will keep snow levels reasonably low for this time of year as well. At the moment, I'm generally expecting snow levels to range from 300-750 meters (1,000-2,500 feet) across the Coast Range and 750-1,200 meters (2,500-4,000 feet) across the Interior.

My early call is for 2-day snow totals to range from 15-40 cm (6-16") across the Coast Range and 10-30 cm (4-12") across the Interior, while Shames Mountain and Powder King should pick up 8-20 cm (3-8"). However, we will get more dialed in on this moving forward. 

For now, I'm expecting Saturday to offer the deepest conditions in most areas, and perhaps Saturday afternoon/Sunday morning for eastern portions of the Interior. Winds could get fairly strong at times during the day on Saturday, however, before decreasing on Sunday. 

A secondary disturbance is projected to move across BC following the Friday-Saturday storm with additional snow showers likely on Sunday (April 2).

An active pattern is then expected to continue next week with most medium-range models projecting a storm (or series of storms) sometime in the April 3rd-6th timeframe. Temperatures will also be colder than average. The storm track looks most favorable for Southern BC at this time, but confidence in the overall evolution of this pattern is fairly low at this time.

Looking further out, we should stay in a fairly unsettled pattern through April 12th with temperatures trending toward more seasonal levels for this time of year. The dominant storm track may also start to shift more toward Northern BC.

Thanks so much for reading! Next update on Thursday (March 30).

ALAN SMITH

I am transitioning over to "spring hours" as the season slowly starts to wind down over the next couple of weeks. I will be posting forecasts on Tuesdays-Thursdays-Saturdays moving forward with my final post of the season on Saturday, April 15th. 

Projected Ski Resort Closing Dates:

April 2nd:

Manning Park

Sasquatch Mountain

Whitewater

Apex

Red Mountain

April 9th:

Silver Star

Mt. Seymour

Kimberley

Cypress Mountain

Shames Mountain

Powder King

April 10th:

Mt. Washington

Sun Peaks

April 16th:

Panorama

Kicking Horse

Fernie

April 17th:

Revelstoke

April 23rd:

Big White

Hudson Bay Mountain

May 14th:

Grouse Mountain

May 22nd:

Whistler