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Snow Report Summary
More good news this week, and an early heads-up on something interesting in the forecast...
This Week's Headlines
- Up to three feet of fresh snow in the Alps.
- Heavy snow forecast for the Alps over the coming week.
- Scottish slopes swamped at weekend as pent up demand unleashed.
- Pyrenees looking better than ever with fresh snow.
- Some small ski areas in California close due to too little snow.
It has been another snowy week in the Alps with resorts reporting as much as three feet of snow in the last seven days. For many resorts there remains a problem however that the big snowfall figures are for upper runs, whilst lower down cover is more limited and the temperatures sometimes too warm - a pattern that has continued all season. Forecasters are currently projecting some of the biggest snowfalls of the winter coming up, the most optimistic saying up to six feet of new snow could land on the French Alps in the next 10 days, although all areas are promised significant snow.
Elsewhere most areas are looking good - The Dolomites have had the snow they needed, the Pyrenees, already in good shape, have had fresh snow too and there's been moderate snowfall in Scotland, Scandinavia and in most of North America; although a few small areas in the extreme west have had to close for lack of it.
In the forecast
The good news is that it's all cold, at least in Europe, with regular light snow in the East and a little more to the West and North in the immediate forecast... and...
Next week's report just might be a bit more dramatic; the weather models (GFS and ECM) have been repeatedly pushing the possibility of a major snowstorm to end the month. That's at the edge of the reliable timeframe of the forecasts, but if it comes off then it could be a biggy for the Northern Alps (French and Swiss in the firing line at the moment).
Check the J2Ski Forecasts regularly for the latest updates!
The Alps
Austria
Most Austrian ski areas are in relatively good shape despite the fact that typically they are home to some of the lower ski areas of the big four Alpine ski nations. Most areas have at least a foot (30cm) of snow at resort level and three feet (90cm) or more on upper runs. Not much snow has fallen in the last three or four days in the country although very heavy snow – up to a metre or more – is expected across the country in the coming week. The biggest snowfalls, at the start of this week, were 30—40cm at Bad Gastein and Zell am See. Bad Gastein now has the deepest snow in the country of a non glacier resort with a metre on lower runs, two metres on higher slopes.
France
French resorts have reported some of the biggest snowfalls in the Alps in the past week, but again the best of it is up top – Les Deux Alpes, for example, says it has 60cm of new snow, but at resort level there's only a miserly 10cm base depth. Argentiere in the Chamonix Valley reports the same lower slope depth but even greater 7-day snowfall – 72cm. Although a few others are a little thin in the valley (20cm at la Plagne and Serre Chevalier for example), up top the bases are indeed building and there's plenty of terrain open. Avoriaz has some of the most impressive stats in the alps with a metre at resort level, 1.5m at the top, and Flaine, which had trouble opening for the season a month ago, has almost identical stats, just 20cm less at its base.
Italy
Italy has had the snow it has been waiting for since the start of the year over the past week, and it hasn't stopped yet, with powder alarms for 20cm of fresh snow coming in today from Cervinia, Courmayeur and the Milky Way, 30cm at Madesimo and 40cm in Monterosa and much more forecast. The snowfall, which has added up to as much as 85cm in the last seven days at Bormio (and 40-609cm at many other resorts), has been right across the north of the country from the Western alps to the eastern Dolomites and gone right down the Apennines down the spine of Italy too to areas close to Rome. Snow depths are as high as 4m, the deepest reported in the world at present, as Passo Tonale, after 50cm of new snow in recent days.
Switzerland
Swiss ski areas have had their share of the recent big snowfalls too, with Grindelwald recording 87cm of fresh snow – the largest fall in the world this week, around half of it recorded on Sunday/Monday. But like many low-moderate altitude resorts its resort level snow remains thin at just 8cm. A few other famous name areas including Crans Montana and Zermatt have quite thin cover at resort level – 10 to 15cm, although no problems on higher runs where its lying metres deep. Most resorts have relatively healthy 30-60cm bases at resort level though and much more up top with pistes in great condition higher up.
Scandinavia
It continues to look good in Scandinavia with a repeat of the usual weekly pattern – 30-50cm on Norwegian slopes, 5-15cm on the typically less snowy Finnish and Swedish centres, where the snow tends to last and stay powdery longer as it stays sub zero. Cover is good across the region with more Norwegian areas hitting the 1m base depth mark, and coastal Voss claiming the deepest still with a few inches less than 2m.
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees are looking good on and off piste after some healthy snowfalls in the last 48 hours. The area was already in good shape thanks to autumn 2014 snow build up but hadn't seen much fresh since the turn of the year. Most areas typically have 50cm+ in resort and double or triple that higher up. French and Spanish area are looking good too.
Eastern Europe
Little or no fresh snow reported in eastern Europe this week but thanks to falls earliest this month most areas remain in good shape with typically 50-100cm bases, so on piste conditions are generally good. Fresh snow is expected here too next week.
Scotland
Scottish ski areas have been enjoying great conditions thanks to fresh snow and very low temperatures, coupled with little wind and often sunny skies – a rare combination after the eight days of storms that battered the region prior to last weekend. As a result another Scottish skiing phenomenon – too many skiers and boarders for the centres to cope with – descended at the weekend causing problems at Glencoe, Glenshee and the Lecht as traffic tried to reach the centres, the latter two having to be evacuated later in the day by police who deemed the situation unsafe.
North America
Canada
The snow has returned to Western Canada and continued in the West so the snowiest resorts – receiving around a foot of new snow in the last seven days – are located on each side of the country. Big White in BC reported 25cm of snow, but so did Mont Ste Anne in Quebec. Overall conditions remain pretty good across the country with Whistler reporting the most fresh snow – 43cm.
USA
The US has – in many areas – been snowier this week than last. Jackson Hole has had a couple of 20cm+-in-24-hours days in the last week and there was a foot of snow across Vermont at the weekend. Jackson hole in fact reported nearly two feet off new snow in recent days and has moved clearly ahead of other resorts after falling behind Utah areas when they got big snowfalls a week ago. It's currently the only US area claiming more than a two metre base at 208cm – less than an inch short of seven feet. It's not all good news in the US though, California is suffering with yet another less than wonderful season and two small areas including badger pass in Yosemite National Park have had to close this week due to inadequate snow cover.
Nonetheless the bigger resorts like Heavenly, Squaw and Mammoth are reporting healthy depths of 80-100cm on upper slopes although there's been no new snow for them this week and there's none in the immediate forecast