Poster: A snowHead
|
Can anyone tell me what the weather is likely to be like in whistler in March (mid-late, flying on 18th)?
Used to skiing in high resorts in the Alps in January and March, is Whistler in March likely to be hotter, colder, somewhere between?
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Prevailing: freezes overnight, thaws in the day. Hardpack first thing esp lower down, softening to wet snow as the day goes on. Broken fluffy "flat bottomed" clouds with the sun peeping through quite a lot.
The reality: almost anything. Literally. We've been going in late March to early April for years now, and one overriding lesson is that the weather can change very quickly. We've had minus ten, heavy snowfall giving mid thigh powder conditions; thick cloud cover below the level of the village; rain at all elevations; snow at all elevations; warm sunny high pressure systems locked in that mean you've got spring snow everywhere and it's close to 20 in the village by the afternoon so you want to break out the mountain bikes. During some two week holidays we've had all of those conditions and more.
Pack layers and make sure your kit is waterproof (as if it snows the chances are greater that it will fall as rain on lower elevations). Prepare for pretty much anything.
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
As greg66 said, you will probably get 7 different weather patterns within 7 hours at Whistler. Let alone during a week's time. This winter has been good, with a lot of snow storms cycling in. And most of those storms have been coming out of the NW Gulf of Alaska this season, which is not the norm. This week is the first week where a somewhat strong atmospheric river (AR) also locally referred to as a pineapple express coming out of the South Pacific has hit the PNW. Warm and moist air that if it collides with a cold front results in warming and increasing freezing levels, and usually as the AR passes through is followed by cold and dry air coming in on the backside to bring in reducing precipitation. usually the PNW gets a couple of these AR's that come through normally in January and February. March tends to be just a bit warmer with the solar radiation and longer days to warm things up. Upper mtn tends to be above that freeze thaw cycle that hits the lower slopes.
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Great, thanks! Sounds like I might need to upgrade my salopettes
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
Sort of what they said. Numbers of visitors drop at the start of April, but often conditions are great, although you want to expect spring conditions.
|
|
|
|
|
|