Some South American ski areas may open for the 2017 season nearly a month early after up to 50cm of snow fall at the start of this week.
Ski centres in Argentina and Chile traditionally open in mid-June, this year most scheduling the weekend of 17/18th June as opening day, however thanks to all the fresh snow some of the smaller centres which are not reliant on large numbers of temporary workers, may open in the next week.
A similar thing happened last year with better snow in May and early June than in late June and early July when the start of the season was actually scheduled.
South America is the latest southern hemisphere ski destination to report heavy pre-season snowfall. Australia and New Zealand have been doing so since mid-April and southern African ski slopes reported heavy snow a week ago.
Another band of heavy snowfall is expected in the Andes over the coming 48 hours meaning bases should be deeper still by the weekend.
Portillo in Chile is pictured above and below after the heavy snowfall.
