Canadian Rockies Daily Snow

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By Bob Ambrose, Forecaster Posted 1 year ago January 29, 2023

Moderating Temps & Light Snowfall Spells into the Week

Summary

Stellar conditions persist at Castle Mountain and Nakiska who both picked up 5 – 10cm Fri. night and Sat. Arctic high-pressure brings frigid temps and sunny skies Sun. across the range. Temps moderate Mon. and return to seasonal by Tues. as a weak system moves in with light snow (2 – 5cm) for resorts Banff and north Mon night into Tues. Unsettled skies on Weds could continue to add light amounts.

Short Term Forecast

Below: The iconic Mt. Assiniboine under the frigid stillness of -28C Sunday morning at Sunshine Village. 

Sunday: An arctic high-pressure ridge expands across the Rockies delivering clear skies north to south. It will be a sunny and frigid day for all resorts with alpine high temps rising to a humane -16C to -20C by midafternoon. Light W/SW winds. Frostbite concerns, cover all exposed skin.   

Monday: Arctic high-pressure hangs in for most of the day on Monday before a weak disturbance brings increasing cloud cover moving north to south along the Rockies during the afternoon hours, with isolated flurries developing from Sunshine north to Marmot Basin. Moderate and gusty W/NW winds to 25 kph on Monday. Temps begin to moderate with alpine (2200m) high temps of -13C to -15C on Monday. 

Tuesday: Widespread isolated flurries continue overnight Monday and into Tuesday morning with accumulations of a trace up to 8cm by noon Tuesday are 30% possible, mainly from Sunshine north to Marmot Basin. For Norquay, and the resorts south of Banff, skies generally will be a mix of sun and clouds. Moderate west winds for most resorts with gusty NW winds likely across the alpine at Castle Mountain. Upper-mountain high temps (2200m) across the Rockies warming to -10C to -14C on Tuesday. 

Wednesday: Lingering cloud cover and chances of isolated flurries continue across the northern half of the Alberta Rockies (Banff to Jasper) as a trough of low-pressure persists. Trace accumulations up to 5cm possible by last chair Wednesday at Sunshine, Louise, and Marmot. South of Banff, mainly cloudy with some sunny spells. Predominantly west winds light increasing to moderate in the afternoon. Warming trend continues with highs at 2200m of -8C to -11C.  

Thursday: Transient high-pressure builds across the Rockies on Thursday bringing a mix of sun and cloud to most resort locations. SW winds light to moderate will keep the warming trend going with alpine highs at 2200m ranging from -2C at Castle, to -7C at Louise.  

Below: Canadian model for snowfall across BC and AB from 11am Monday 1/30 thru 11am Thursday shows decent chances of daily accumulations for the mountain from Banff north to Jasper.

 

Extended Forecast

All three models are pointing towards a Pacific trough moving into the Rockies beginning Friday 2/3 bringing chances of daily accumulating snow through the weekend as two shortwave lows move through on an active NW flow aloft. Temps will become slightly cooler but stay right around seasonal in temps through the weekend. Still too early to nail down numbers on daily snowfall amounts but most of the models are bringing these systems across the Alberta Rockies from Banff north to Jasper. Stay tuned.  

Below: The Euro model for the period Thursday afternoon through Monday morning shows potential for a snowy Friday 2/3 through Sunday 2/5. 


 


As always, thanks so much for tuning in. Next update, Tuesday 1/31. 

Powder Out, 

Bob 

Announcements

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  OPEN daily   

Fortress / KPOW Cat Skiing  OPEN see web link  

Nakiska  OPEN daily

Pass Powderkeg  OPEN (Weds thru Sun only)  

 

About Our Forecaster

Bob Ambrose

Forecaster

Ever since his early days as a ski racer on the icy slopes of New Hampshire’s White Mountains, Bob chased his dreams of deep powder west to Tahoe and finally Montana. A self-proclaimed 'weather junkie', his passion for maps, charts, and forecasts always lead him to the best snow in Montana.

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