Alpine weather forecast

Wet snow book ended by sunshine

Following a rather stormy weekend, a much quieter Easter Monday is in store for us thanks to two high pressure centres building to our west. Clouds will dissipate in the morning giving way to a mostly sunny afternoon while strong northerly ease to moderate in the afternoon. Mountain temperatures should rise to +3C Monday afternoon allowing most snow surfaces to soften. Clear skies Monday night will allow for a proper freeze, overnight lows dropping to -5C.

Skies will cloud over early Tuesday ahead of the next approaching storm. A Texas low having reached it peak strength over the Great Lakes Monday will drop southwards towards Nova Scotia on Tuesday while weakening. Moderate southwest winds will only drive the freezing up to 600 metres allowing Tuesday’s precipitation to remain as snow in the alpine. The system will be rather slow moving and cause the precipitation to last from midday Tuesday to early afternoon Wednesday with 5-8 cm forecast by most models. With temperatures right around the freezing mark, the snow will be rather moist. After the precipitation stops on Wednesday, freezing levels will rise to 1000 metres and mountain temperatures climb close to +5C. The new snow will settle and begin melting fairly quickly.

After some morning fog and low cloud, the sun should reappear Thursday and persist into Friday thanks to more high pressure. With light northwest winds, alpine highs near +6C, and overnight lows near zero, the end of the week looks favorable for some end of season turns.

Forecast Confidence :

Generally good confidence. Low cloud Monday morning could delay the warming and softening of the snow into the afternoon. Models are fairly consistent with the 5-8 cm of wet snow Tuesday in to Wednesday so there should not be any surprises. Once again, cloud could linger on Thursday before sunnier skies on Friday.