Weather is a crucial factor to consider when deciding whether to embark on a back country trip, as well as what type of conditions to expect during the trip.  Live weather maps are an excellent resource to take advantage of, as they give you a detailed image of different air masses advancing and retreating.  You can infer many things from high and low pressure systems, to precipitation,  and frontal systems, to name a few.  

The government and UBC provide excellent pressure-level maps as well as live precipitation maps to help you assess numerous things like cloud cover and snowfall at different elevations. This is one of the primary resources that I use, because it allows me to track the conditions over a region in the past, present, and near future.  If I know that a cold front is advancing, I'm likely going to stick in bounds at a resort to do my skiing, to avoid the high consequences of low visibility, frigid cold and high wind speeds over exposed slopes.  On the other hand, if I see clockwise flow around a center, I can see that a high pressure system is circulating.  I can check the government forecasts to confirm the weather, and then pack my things to get out in blue bird conditions!

Here is a link to the National and UBC model forecast maps. I like it because I can see the forecasts at different elevations.

Here is a link to the Canadian Government website for weather conditions and Forecast by LocationLinks to an external site.

Another link I do not use as often, but definitely is worth a visit is the Mountain Forecast by Avalanche CanadaLinks to an external site..  They show detailed images, as well as explanations (eg. the explain what the images mean).  I will likely use this more in the future!  It is definitely very user-friendly.

What am I monitoring?

-wind speed and chill

-daily temperature and evening temperature

-precipitation forecasts

-prevailing weather systems

-cloud coverage (RH can indicate this)