Alpine weather forecast
Avalanche Québec offers a weather forecast specifically for the Chic-Chocs. It is prepared twice a week by a professional meteorologist at Alpine Weather Consultants.
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Published on
December 30, 2025Effective for
December 30, 2025 to January 2, 2026Short and medium-term outlook
2025 going out with a bang!
When producing these mountain weather forecasts, there’s no other words that bring us more joy than the following three: Winter, Storm, Warning. Thanks to an intense Colorado low, having tracked across the Great Lakes and then right across the Gaspé peninsula Monday night, heavy snow and strong (50 gusting 130 km/h) southerly winds are in the forecast through midday Tuesday. Despite the strong southerly flow and associated warming, the Chic-Chocs should escape any mixed precipitation. As the storm pushes towards the Saguenay, winds will veer to the west between 10am and noon Tuesday. Snowfall rates will diminish through the afternoon with light flurries persisting through the evening and all of Wednesday. Total snowfall amounts by end of day Tuesday are expected to be in the 18-22 cm range with the highest amounts over southern sections of the Parc. An additional 2-4 cm are expected Wednesday with moderate southwest winds. After rising close to -4C in the mountains Monday night, temperatures will fall close to -17C Tuesday night and continue their descent to near -25C Wednesday night. The below seasonal temperatures will persist through the remainder of the week so keep those puffies handy!
The storm will park itself over Hudson`s Bay on Thursday sustaining a cold but dry southwesterly flow across the Chic-Chocs Thursday and Friday. The next much weaker storm is forecast to track across Cape Bretton on Friday and is likely to remain too far east to bring any measurable snow to the region. The most notable impact from this next system will be the strengthening NW winds of 40-60 km/h Friday into Saturday morning. We should see some sun emerge Friday before clouds return Saturday. We will have to wait until next Sunday for our next snowfall potential.
Forecast Confidence :
Fairly good confidence overall. The heaviest snow will have fallen come sunrise Tuesday with decreasing snowfall rates thereafter. The shift in winds from southerly to westerly will be important in redistributing the storm snow to east aspects Tuesday afternoon. Cold temperatures following the storm will favour faceting of recent storm snow through the week. Confidence is high that the pattern will be much quieter Wednesday onwards.
