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
April 25, 2025Effective for
April 25, 2025 to April 28, 2025Short and medium-term outlook
Classic spring: Snow mixed with rain and moments of sun
Alpine flurries and valley showers will end Friday morning as a weak low over New Brunswick shifts eastwards. In its wake, light northerly winds will maintain cloudy skies until mid-afternoon when the sun will break through for a few hours before setting. Alpine temperatures will rise to +5C making for soft but sticky snow surfaces. Overall, a fairly typical spring day.
A rain-snow mix will redevelop Saturday morning as a deeper low with plenty of moisture approaches from the Great Lakes. At the onset of the precipitation around 7am Saturday, freezing levels will be near 600 metres supporting mountain snow and valley rain. Moderate southeast winds of 30-40 km/h will cause the freezing level to slowly rise through the day reaching 1000 metres by late afternoon and a high near +3C. Only the alpine will remain as snow while treeline and below will transition to rain with 10-15 mm of rain low down and 8-12 cm of wet snow up high. Freezing levels will dip to 600 metres Saturday night helping the mixture to transition towards wet snow again before ending Sunday morning.
Sunday will be cloudy with gusty northeast winds of 30-60 km/h and an alpine high near +3C. While the low will be further south over southern Nova Scotia, we can`t rule out a few additional showers from bands of moisture spiraling around the system. The sun will come out on Monday thanks to building high pressure over the eastern US. The strong late April sun will rise temperatures close to +10C helping to soften snow on all aspects. Light north winds will make for a gorgeous day in the mountains on Monday. Cloud will increase Monday ahead of the next storm, a rather warm looking Colorado low that will bring more showers next Tuesday and Wednesday. Get it while you can and note our last outlook of the season will be issued on Monday.
Forecast Confidence :
Good with the overall pattern, fair with the ratio of wet snow versus rain. During the heaviest precipitation Saturday afternoon, freezing levels could drop as low as 500 metres resulting in a higher amount of snow instead of rain. No matter what, the snow will be fairly wet and not easily transported by the winds. Good confidence in the warm sunny day Monday.
