Weather
A cool, mostly quiet stretch through Saturday gives way to the best snow of the forecast from Sunday evening, March 29, through early Wednesday, April 1, with the strongest signal centered on Alberta’s Rockies and Kicking Horse. That period has the cleanest model agreement on timing and coverage, and it supports about 20 cm to 30 cm at Banff Sunshine with more common 10 cm to 20 cm totals at Lake Louise, Mount Norquay, Kicking Horse, and Big White. Revelstoke and RED stay in a warmer setup, so lower elevations there look wetter and more variable even while upper-mountain snow continues. Confidence drops again after Wednesday morning as another unsettled stretch tries to develop later in the week.
Thursday morning brings only a minor refresh, then Friday and Saturday are mostly dry with good surface preservation in the colder Alberta terrain. The models are fairly well aligned on light snow early Thursday, mainly a few centimeters around Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise, and Mount Norquay, and snow levels stay low enough for all snow anywhere flakes fall. Snow quality is light in the Rockies with SLRs generally in the 14-20 range, while farther west any snow is spottier, lighter, and closer to 10-16 SLR. Outside that brief Thursday pulse, this part of the forecast is more about cool temperatures and settled skiing than storm totals.
Confidence is highest from Sunday evening, March 29, through early Wednesday, April 1, when the models converge on the main storm cycle and keep its best focus from Kicking Horse east into the Alberta Rockies. Timing is clustered around snow arriving Sunday evening, peaking late Sunday night through Monday, and tapering in waves into Tuesday night, which supports roughly 20 cm to 30 cm at Banff Sunshine and 10 cm to 20 cm at Lake Louise, Mount Norquay, and Kicking Horse. Snow levels stay near valley floors to below about 900 meters in the Alberta resorts, so this should be all snow there with 13-20 SLRs and mostly moderate to light powder quality. Big White still looks good for 10 cm to 20 cm, but its snow is denser at roughly 10-16 SLR and exposed ridges could see gusts around 30 km/h to 40 km/h. Model spread is wider at Revelstoke and RED, where snow levels rise into roughly 1,000 meters to 1,400 meters at times and SLRs fall into the 7-12 range, keeping lower-mountain conditions wetter and heavier.
After a relative lull Wednesday morning, April 1, the later Wednesday through Friday pattern turns less certain even though most of the guidance keeps some snow in play. The models diverge more on the next wave’s timing, how far north and east the better moisture reaches, and how high snow levels climb, so this part of the forecast is better treated as a broad signal than a locked-in storm. The most realistic outcome is another 10 cm to 20 cm at Big White and RED with more modest 5 cm to 10 cm refreshers elsewhere. Snow quality also trends heavier, with SLRs often 8-15 and closer to 5-12 at RED and lower Revelstoke, while southern BC ridges could gust 40 km/h to 60 km/h.
Resort Forecast Totals (Sun Mar 29 – Wed Apr 01)
- Banff Sunshine – 19-33 cm
- Lake Louise – 12-21 cm
- Kicking Horse – 12-21 cm
- Mount Norquay – 11-19 cm
- Big White – 10-17 cm
- RED Mountain – 5-8 cm
- Revelstoke – 4-6 cm
