J2Ski Snow Report - January 17th 2013

The J2Ski Snow Report - Week Ending January 18th 2013
(* Free to re-publish in whole or part so long as credited to www.J2ski.com with hyperlink to http://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast )

This Week and Next - in Brief

This week has brought cold weather and snow to, well, just about everywhere you can ski in the Northern Hemisphere.

Snow conditions are generally superb, although visibility and cold have been challenging at times in The Alps at least.

A brief mild spell is about to roll through the alpine region that will push temperatures above January averages for a day or two. This will not last long, and it will be accompanied by further snowfall in the North and East of The Alps.

This Week's Headlines

- Huge snowfalls in the Pyrenees - up to 65cm in 24 hours
- Scottish areas re-open thanks to cold weather and snowmaking.
- Over a foot of new snow in the Dolomites.
- Up to a metre of new snow in the Alps in past week.
- Over a metre of snow in the past week for Niseko, Japan.
- High off-piste avalanche danger in the Alps and Pyrenees.

Travel Disruption this weekend

Snow and wind is likely to cause some disruption to travel plans this weekend, particularly for UK-based travellers. We strongly advise everyone travelling this weekend to check local weather conditions (home and away!) and allow extra time for your journey.

Europe
Austria
A second snowy week for Austria and this time its colder so the snow is falling further down, a condition that will continue right through to the weekend. Niederau in Wildschonau has had an impressive 80cm of new snow while Kitzbuhel has reported 43cm (17 inches) of new snow in the past week leaving 40cm at resort level and 1.5m up on the mountain tops. Obergurgl, Zell am See and Ischgl have all reported at least a foot (30cm) of fresh snow too and it's a similar picture at resorts across the country. More healthy snowfalls adding similar volumes of snow are expected over the next 7 days too, meaning Kitzbuhel can hope to have received nearly a metre of snow over the fortnight before the Hahnenkamm week begins.

France
It's looking great in the French Alps as heavy snow has continued for much of this week, bringing accumulations since the weekend of up to a metre (claimed by La Plagne) with most other resorts in the northern ski areas reporting big accumulations too including Flaine (80cm), Chamonix (67cm), Meribel (60cm), Les Arcs (55cm) and Avoriaz (48cm). Upper slope depths are now at the 9-11 foot mark at many top resorts including Chamonix and Flaine with 330cm while Avoriaz, Alpe d'Huez, Tignes and Val d'Isere are all up around 2.7m. More snow is expected over the rest of the week but the volume is expected to drop.

Italy
In Italy the big snow news of the past seven days has been in the Dolomites where, after a few fairly snowless weeks, falls averaging 50cm have been reported across the region. Some resorts including Cortina have had even more than that with 60cm (two feet) in total. Base depths have of course improved as a result, particularly good news at lower elevations where it had been getting a little thin in some places. In the west of the country the Alps still have the deepest snow in Italy – with 235cm on upper slopes at Cervinia, a resort which has also reported the most snow in the region over the past week, with 30cm of fresh snow.

Switzerland
Swiss resorts continue to offer the deepest snow in Europe, now approaching 4m with 3.8m at Andermatt and 3.75m in Engelberg just a couple of inches behind. There have been healthy snowfalls across the country in the past week ranging from 15cm at St Moritz to 66cm at Les Diablerets – that's more than two feet. Verbier has had another good week with 48cm of new snow – meaning it has received nearly 2m since Christmas. Base depth in the resort is now just under three feet at 87cm with 2.3m (nearly 8 feet) at the top of the slopes. Jungfrau, Laax, Crans Montana and Leysin all have very similar accumulations.

Pyrenees
The Pyrenees have been the big snowfall story this week – after a fairly average start to the season and little new snow since Christmas, there have been huge falls over the past 72 hours with Baqueira Beret on the Spanish side being hit first and reporting 65cm of snow in 24 hours up to Monday, then ski areas in Andorra posted 40-50cm in the 24 hours to Tuesday and similar falls are now being reported on the French side at Cauterets among other resorts. The snow is still falling and at Baqueira the accumulation was 1.4m in the past 7 days.

Scandinavia
There's been very little new snow in Scanadinavia but low temperatures mean there's no snow melt either. Hemsedal in Norway with 105cm has the deepest snow in the region, with Are, the biggest resort still reporting around 55cm of snow – both resorts are fully open.

Eastern Europe
There's been little or no new snow in most Eastern European ski areas. The exception is Slovenia where Kranjska Gora has had 20cm of snow in the past week. Pamporovo in Bulgaria has the deepest snow in the region however with an 80-180cm base and conditions have improved a little at Poiana Brasov in Romania where snow cover is now up to 70cm on upper slopes.

Scotland
Four of the five Scottish ski areas were forced to stop running their lifts for skiers last week due to the mild conditions and resulting thaw but now we're back to cold weather again all but Glencoe have re-opened, albeit currently limited terrain, and even Glencoe has some sledging and hopes to open by the weekend. Most areas are using the consistently cold temperatures for snow making and there's be some natural snowfall with more forecast.

North America
Canada
Conditions remain good across Canada although the rate of snowfall has slowed this week. The biggest reported accumulation has been at Lake Louise with 28cm of snowfall, with resorts on the Powder Highway including Panorama, Kicking Horse and Kimberley receiving around 20cm each. Fernie to the south had less new snow bit still has Canada's deepest snow, for a leading resort, with 221cm. In the east there's been a few inches of fresh snow in Tremblant and Mont Sainte Anne which have 80cm and 95cm bases respectively.

USA
North-western USA has again had the best of the week's snowfall in the US. For the third successive week Alyeska in Alaska has posted the biggest snowfall in the country of the major resorts with 106cm – its base is now 3.6m (12 feet). But Mammoth still has the deepest snow in the country at 4.9m. Other big snowfalls over the past week include a foot (31cm) at Jackson Hole and 20cm at Heavenly. There have been small snowfalls in Colorado but bases are still rather low – around 60-80cm at most resorts. Utah is looking a bit more normal now though with 1.5m or more at resorts including Alta and Snowbird. There's been no fresh snow on the East coast but depths remain above a metre at larger resorts including Killington and Stowe.

you say that conditions in French Alps are superb, but the forecast for Mont Jura shows very little snow.
How come?
Could you translate the forecast as well please? Does snow mean the level at which there is snow?

And the

Hi skisnail,

I'm not sure I understand the question, but I'll try and answer anyway.

skisnail wrote:you say that conditions in French Alps are superb, but the forecast for Mont Jura shows very little snow. How come?

Yes, both of those statements are correct.

skisnail wrote:How come?

a) current conditions are what's being reported at the moment, and the forecast is the best guess of the weather models as to what's going to happen.

b) Monts Jura are in the, er, Jura mountains and not The Alps. They're lower in altitude and in a different place, so will have different weather. 8)

skisnail wrote:Could you translate the forecast as well please? Does snow mean the level at which there is snow?

If you're asking what we mean as "snow to" in the forecats, then it is the approximate altitude to which fresh snow will fall.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks, I did realise that they weren't the Alps. Just that everywhere else seems to begetting snow including us at 200m in Scotland in Easterlies.
Thanks for confirming the 'snow' meaning.

Northern French Alps and probably The Jura look set for some snow this coming weekend but not locked into the forecast yet.

Temperatures are bouncing around the January averages a bit but nothing to be overly concerned by at the moment. Fingers crossed!

thanks,
10 days til we go so I will stay optimistic