World Weather

Let`s start with a short introduction to the orientation on the weather maps. The European Alps are situated at 47° N, Vancouver at 49° N and Atlin at 59° N.

Annual mean sea level pressure

Bad weather occurs due to low pressure cells. Here is an overview of the location where most of the low pressure cells are being formed. The European cells are formed between Iceland and Greenland – the North American low pressure cells are formed in the Aleutians – between Alaska and the Russian Pacific Coast. Due to the orientation of the earth we have a western weather flow in the Northern Hemisphere, i.e. our Aleutian low pressure cells generally travel to the West – to us in Atlin. Annual m

December to February

March to May

Interannual Variability

Dynamic weather patterns benefit us as long as the fronts occur often and are productive yet short. When looking at it this way, the weather in England is relatively diversified. The Brits make the best umbrellas…

10m vector wind Annual mean

The low pressure cells must travel to us in Atlin as well. For that we need wind, the cells arrive fast and leave fast…

Total precipitation September to Nov

Due to the above mentioned factors, Western Canada has the highest precipitation amounts in the Northern Hemisphere with exception of the Tropics where the only possible skiing occurs on dunes. This also explains why our skiers train in the Andes during the summer months.

Total precipitation December to Febr

Total precipitation March to May

2-Meter Temp September to November

Precipitation at warm temperatures produces rain, something we don’t like when skiing. That is why we need cold temperatures, but not too cold. In Atlin the first snow fall above approx. 1400 metres occurs as early as in September.

2-Meter Temp December to February

2-Meter Temp March to May

Another important factor is the temperature distribution for March to May. Skiing in Atlin during April means skiing powder and not corn snow. Therefore, if you choose to ski in April you’d better come to us or find some other area with high mountains.

Satelite Storm over Gulf of Alaska

And this is how it looks in the real world: a world-sattelite-picture shows a good size storm in the Gulf of Alaska. On Tuesday, April 22nd 2003, we did not fly due to the snowstorm. On Wednesday our guests had a fantastic day in the Wann-River valley with 11 Runs and 9090 Meters vertical skied.