Below: Nakiska base under a heavy snow shower at closing time Friday afternoon. Nakiska could get another 6 - 10cm overnight Friday.

Friday night: As surface high-pressure builds behind an arctic cold front Friday night, favorable conditions will prevail for upslope NE winds that look to bring periods of moderate to heavy snow showers for Kananaskis Country (Nakiska, KPOW) as well as the South Rockies (Castle, Powderkeg). Castle Mountain in particular, could likely see another 10 – 15cm overnight, with 6 – 10cm at Nakiska. Norquay and Sunshine, another 1 – 3cm possible. Trace amounts possible elsewhere. 

Saturday: Be prepared for an abrupt change over to extremely cold conditions across the Rockies on Saturday. Arctic air will infiltrate the entire range on the heels of the departing storm system super early Saturday morning. Gusty E/NE winds through the morning hours will bring the wind chills to frostbite warning criteria. High-pressure continues to build through the day on Saturday but plan on mostly cloudy and dry conditions. The South Rockies may experience residual morning snow showers that could bring light accumulations. Extremely cold in comparison to the last several weeks with afternoon alpine high temps at 2200m ranging from -18C at Castle Mountain and Nakiska, to -21C at the SkiBig3 resorts north to Marmot Basin. 

Sunday: An arctic high-pressure ridge expands across the Rockies delivering clear skies north to south. It will be a frigid morning with alpine temps -25C to -28C until noon. Sunny skies will help warm the alpine temps to a balmy -18C to -20C by 3pm. Light N/NE winds. Frostbite concerns continue.  

Monday & Tuesday: Arctic high-pressure ridge ebbs and flows with a weak disturbance passing Monday afternoon/evening likely resulting in increasing cloud cover and widespread but isolated flurries with no accumulations. Skies generally will be a mix of sun and clouds Monday morning, and again through the day on Tuesday. Variable W/NW winds switching to W/SW winds Monday PM. Temps begin to slowly moderate with alpine (2200m) high temps of -15C to -18C on Monday, warming to -10C to -15C on Tuesday. 

Below: Hot off the press high resolution Canadian model run for projected snowfall across BC and AB Friday afternoon through midnight Saturday shows the potential for additional moderate amounts of accumulating snow across K-Country and the South Rockies. I think Castle Mountain might be a good place on Saturday.  

 

A high-pressure ridge is expected rebuild on Wednesday 2/1 but quickly flattens on Thursday 2/2 as a shortwave low-pressure system moves in from BC on a westerly flow aloft. Two out of the three weather models (Euro, CDN) favor this, with the GFS keeping a weak ridge over the Rockies. We’ll side with the majority so expect warmer temps and chances for light accumulations on both Thursday and Friday 2/3. All three models are pointing towards another Pacific shortwave moving just north of the Rockies over the following weekend 2/4 and 2/5 bringing unsettled skies with daily chances of snowfall. Continued above average temps through the weekend.  

Below: The Euro model for the period Monday night 1/30 through Sunday night 2/5 shows a few shortwave lows passing through the Rockies on a W/NW flow Thurs/Friday 2/2 & 2/3 and again over the following weekend 2/4 & 2/5.  

 Thanks for tuning in. Next update, Sunday 1/29. 

Powder Out, 

Bob