Below: Castle Mountain, which ‘officially’ opens for the season on Friday, Dec. 2nd, received 30cm of snow over the last 24-hours. Here’s proof.

 

The forecast: 

Thursday: Residual moisture from the departing storm system will bring another 3 – 6cm to Castle Mountain and Pass Powderkeg (both re-open Friday 12/2). Trace amounts to 3cm for Nakiska as well. Besides the clouds and flurries for the mountains of K-Country and south, to the north at the SkiBig3 resorts and Marmot Basin, a cold mix of mostly sun and high clouds will be the story. Frosty, with 2200m morning lows of -21C, with an afternoon high of -15C. Light W/SW winds.

Friday: Arctic high-pressure continues to build across the Rockies. Sunny skies with light W/SW winds to 15kph. Friday morning’s (2200m) low temps will be frigid at -25C. Temps will slowly moderate to around -17C by the afternoon hours.  

Saturday: Mainly sunny skies. Continued cold across the Rockies (at 2200m) with morning lows around -20C with afternoon highs around -13C. Light and variable W/SW winds. 

Sunday: Mainly sunny skies with increasing clouds in the afternoon. Warmer with a high of -10C at 2200m. Light west winds.

 
Monday:  A cold low-pressure system will move from the northwest and into the Alberta prairies on Sunday creating an frigid easterly wind that will also transport numerous flurries overnight Sunday into Monday. Trace amounts up to 5cm are slightly possible for the easternmost resorts (Nakiska, Norquay, and Fortress - KPOW). Elsewhere, mainly cloudy skies with another jolt of coldness. Morning lows around -22C with afternoon highs hovering around -15C. Light E/NE winds. 

Below:  GFS Model animation for the period Thursday – Sunday 12/4 shows the departing storm across the South Rockies followed by high pressure ridging, followed by an 'eastern' storm system Sunday/Monday then high pressure regains its foothold next week. 

Behind Monday's system, arctic high pressure will deliver cold and dry conditions through the end of next week. Temps will start to moderate on Wednesday as a SW flow returns slowly warming into Friday when the high temp is expected to be around -8C at 2200m elevation. Currently, the long term forecast maps are keeping high-pressure dominant through Sunday 12/11.  

Below: Canadian model animation for surface temps across BC and Alberta from Thursday 12/1 through Friday 12/9 indicates another cold week ahead - at least until next Wednesday when a slight moderation is favored by the models. 

Thanks for tuning in, next update will be on Saturday 12/3.  

Powder Out, 

Bob 

Alberta Rockies Ski Resorts & Areas / North & South “Regions” are solely for Geographic References in my forecasts…

 North Region:  ( * denotes SkiBig3 resorts )

*Banff/Sunshine Village  OPEN daily

*Lake Louise Ski Resort  OPEN daily  

*Mt Norquay  OPEN daily  

Marmot Basin        OPEN daily

 South Region:

Castle Mountain   RE-OPENS for the season on 12/2, then daily op’s   

Fortress / KPOW Cat Skiing  TBA

Nakiska  OPEN daily

Pass Powderkeg  OPEN WEEKENDS  

 

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