Weather
A cold Sunday afternoon through Monday evening stretch brings the most reliable snowfall of this forecast, with the Banff-area resorts favored for the best early-week refresh while much of British Columbia sees smaller top-ups and a few windy ridgelines. After that, guidance still points to a wetter southern and interior BC period around Wednesday into Thursday and another broader storm chance late in the weekend, but confidence in exact placement and totals fades as lead time increases and snow levels become more variable.
Confidence is highest from Sunday afternoon through Monday evening, when the individual models line up best on timing and on a colder snow-level drop. They converge on snow reaching all elevations across Alberta and staying below base at Kicking Horse and Big White, while Revelstoke and the lower-elevation southern BC terrain spend more time with denser snow near the bottom. The most dependable fresh snow is around the Banff area, where Banff Sunshine, Mount Norquay, and Lake Louise should stack up a solid refresh, and snow quality looks notably better there with SLRs mostly in the 14-18 range. Amounts are less locked in than timing, especially outside Alberta, and Sunday starts with the sharpest wind impacts on exposed southern BC ridges where gusts can push 50 to 65 km/h before easing overnight.
From Wednesday into Thursday, the models still converge on another round of precipitation, but they diverge more on intensity and on how far north the better moisture reaches. The strongest signal is for southern and interior BC, with Big White and the southern interior holding the best chance at low-double-digit centimeter snowfall, while the Banff-area hills and Kicking Horse look more like smaller refreshes. Snow levels during this wave generally run around 800 to 1,300 meters when it is snowing, so Big White and Alberta stay cold enough for mostly moderate snow with SLRs near 10-14, but Revelstoke and the lower mountain in southern BC are more likely to deal with denser snow closer to 8-11. Winds look much less concerning than the opening system, aside from occasional breezy exposed terrain around Big White.
Late Saturday through Monday carries the next storm signal, but by then the guidance only agrees on a broader change back to unsettled weather and not on the exact snowfall outcome. Alberta and Kicking Horse currently hold the most realistic path to another 20 cm-class storm, while Big White and Revelstoke have a wider range of outcomes and the lower-elevation southern BC terrain remains the most vulnerable to wetter snow if snow levels climb again. If this system verifies, it likely starts with denser snow around SLRs of 7-10 and snow levels near 900 to 1,300 meters, then trends lighter as colder air filters in. Confidence is notably lower here because the models diverge on intensity, on how quickly snow levels fall, and on whether winds stay fairly modest or briefly become a bigger lift issue on exposed terrain.
Resort Forecast Totals (Sun Mar 29 – Mon Mar 30)
- Banff Sunshine – 12 cm-16 cm
- Mount Norquay – 10 cm-13 cm
- Lake Louise – 8 cm-11 cm
- Big White – 7 cm-9 cm
- Kicking Horse – 5 cm-7 cm
- RED Mountain – 5 cm-6 cm
- Revelstoke – 3 cm-4 cm
