Weather
A two-part stretch is lined up across BC and Alberta, with the best early turns coming in Interior BC from Sunday evening through Monday night before the focus shifts to the Alberta Rockies for a longer, denser midweek-to-Saturday storm. Confidence is strongest from Sunday evening through Saturday afternoon, March 15 through March 21, on that west-to-east handoff: timing is well converged, but snowfall spread widens once the storm settles over the Alberta Rockies.
Interior BC gets the cleanest short-term shot, and the guidance is tightly clustered on snow arriving Sunday evening, peaking Monday, and fading early Tuesday. It is also reasonably well aligned on rising snow levels and manageable wind outside the most exposed ridges, although intensity still varies enough to keep the biggest totals centered on Revelstoke. Revelstoke is the standout for powder-chasing with about 10″-12″ through the first wave, Kicking Horse looks closer to 5″-6″, Big White around 6″, and RED Mountain near 3″-4″. Snow levels start near valley floors, then climb to roughly 3,000-5,500 feet by Monday afternoon, so the best quality comes early before the snow gets denser late in the event. Expect SLRs mostly in the 14-17 range at the front end for lighter, fairly fluffy snow, then closer to 10-13 and locally 7-9 by Monday night as the snow packs in. Exposed terrain around Big White can still see gusts in the 40-50 mph range during the heart of the storm.
From Tuesday into Saturday, the storm focus shifts east and the models still agree on the timing better than the details, with the steadiest snow favoring Lake Louise and Banff Sunshine. Where they diverge is on intensity, not on the broader setup: most guidance keeps snow going for several days, pushes snow levels up into the 6,000-7,000 foot range while it is snowing, and holds ridge wind impacts in the modest-to-breezy category. That period supports roughly 12″-13″ at Lake Louise and about 10″-11″ at Banff Sunshine, while Mount Norquay is much more marginal near 3″. This looks like dense snow with SLRs mostly in the 6-10 range, not a blower setup. Upper mountain conditions should improve steadily at Lake Louise and Sunshine, but lower elevations will be working with heavier snow and less efficient accumulation, especially during the warmest Wednesday through Friday stretch. Exposed lifts can still deal with occasional 30-40 mph gusts around Sunshine.
After Saturday, confidence drops off quickly and the guidance starts to split on whether another meaningful wave reaches the region late Sunday into Monday. The best odds for a follow-up are still in the Alberta Rockies, where a conservative expectation is roughly 2″-6″ at Lake Louise and Banff Sunshine if that wave materializes, with Kicking Horse closer to 0″-4″ and most of western BC seeing lighter leftovers. There is still enough spread on timing, snow levels, wind, and coverage that this part of the forecast should be treated as a lower-confidence extension rather than a locked-in second storm.
Resort Forecast Totals (Sun Mar 15 – Sat Mar 21)
- Lake Louise – 11″-21″
- Banff Sunshine – 9″-17″
- Kicking Horse – 9″-15″
- Revelstoke – 9″-14″
- Big White – 5″-8″
- Mount Norquay – 2″-5″
- RED Mountain – 3″-4″
