Regional Summaries

After a great few days of classic fall weather with cold nights and warm sunny days, a frontal system is scheduling an appointment for later Saturday into Sunday. This will bring scattered showers into BC to go with the cooler temperatures, and possible showers onto the divide. (lake Louise area). Freezing levels should be around 3000m dropping a bit on Monday when cooler air moves into the rockies.

Well it looks like there’s some rain showers in the forecast in the next few days (although not widespread), which will hopefully help out with the fire situation and smoky skies experienced lately. Freezing levels are supposed to remain pretty high, but you can expect some snow flurries in the higher reaches of the alpine, especially further north where you can expect it to be colder.

Hot and smoky. That's OK for your local jazz bar but not so great for mountain activities...

WEATHER
Record high temperatures were recorded in some areas last week. I saw a 34 from my backyard weather station in Banff; the only other time I have seen that number it had a "-" in front of it.

We did have a brief respite last weekend when a cold front passed through all areas but there was more lightning than rain associated with it. Although the highest peaks had a dusting of snow on them on Monday morning it quickly melted.

Its been a scorching, lung burning smokey week. In the Rockies its become classic August conditions where while its warm, you want to avoid any ice faces and gullies which will have constant rockfall and lots of black ice showing. This week has been warmer than usual which means no freeze overnight whatsoever. Reports from the Columbia Icefields have said the area is mainly out of shape on the traditional routes due to rockfall, and a group in the AA Col had a very close call as members of the party got hit. The flip side is rock routes at all elevations are in prime shape!