Wednesday, April 16

Recent storm totals (since Monday night) as of 0700 Wednesday.

• Sunshine Village 15 cm
• Norquay 13 cm
• Nakiska (reopens Friday) 12 cm
• Lake Louise 3 cm
• Marmot Basin 1 cm 

A surface ridge of high-pressure builds in from the north on Wednesday drying things out but with N/NE winds, it looks to remain unseasonably cool with alpine highs at 2000m around -7C.

Skies look to be mainly cloudy across the range with some lingering flurries across K-Country and the south Alberta Rockies. 

I skied Sunshine on Tuesday, and there were several periods of very intense upslope snowfall during the day. Here’s a shot I took of one of these squalls from under the surreal bronze hue of the Teepee Town (bubble chair). Sunshine reported 10 cm on their Tuesday afternoon report but there was easily 15 cm + above the mid-mountain village. 

Thursday, April 17 – Friday, April 18

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 as a weak disturbance traverses the Rockies near Banff. Dryer skies are likely on Friday with a mix of sun and cloud. 

Worth noting is the North/NE winds that will keep temps below seasonal averages to end the work week.  Alpine highs (2000m) are only expected to reach around -4C to -6C range on Thursday, and again on Friday. Between these temps and the cloud cover, winterlike conditions should stay constant.  

A transient ridge of high-pressure hangs in there for Saturday with a SW flow replacing the cold NE upslope flow. This will return springlike temps with mostly sunny skies across the Rockies on Saturday. 

A minor disturbance looks to bring increasing cloud cover on Sunday with isolated high-elevation flurries. Temps will be seasonal under a west/SW flow on Sunday. 

With Nakiska and Norquay closing up shop this Sunday, I’ll be winding down the season with a once-a-week update starting next week, most likely posting on Friday mornings. Thanks so much for reading this season! 

My next update will be this Friday 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  - Call Ahead  

Nakiska  Closing Day April 14 / Bonus Weekend April 19 – 21 just added.

Pass Powderkeg  - Closed for the Season

Summer Weather: How To Use OpenSnow

As the snow begins to melt and summer conditions quickly take over, remember that you can use OpenSnow as your go-to weather app during the non-winter months.

Get started by going to...

1. Favorites > Weather
2. Location > Weather
3. Maps > Weather

Switch to using your "Summer" favorites list, check the "Weather" tab on both the Favorites screen and any location screen, and avoid poor air quality & incoming storms with our summer-focused map layers in the OpenSnow app.

You can also view the hourly forecast for the next 10 days for any location on Earth in OpenSnow.

1. Go to the "Maps" tab.
2. Tap anywhere or search for a city.
3. Tap "View Forecast".

View → Summer Forecasts