Snow forecast to fall by Easter Monday, graphic from Ventusky
And still it snows... continuing in The Alps and western USA and now starting in the southern hemisphere too.
J2Ski Snow Report 29th March 2018
This Week's Snow Headlines
- It's snowing again in the Alps; with more forecast.
- Orange snow falls in eastern Europe.
- More snow in western North America.
- World's deepest snow base may hit 7m mark this weekend.
- More snow in Scotland and all areas open for Easter.
- First snowfalls of 2018 reported for Australia and New Zealand.
It's been a mostly sunny week in the Alps since our last report, bit it is now snowing (again).
It's not clear how excited Europe's ski areas are about all this fresh snow - most are trying to give an image of sunny slopes and relaxed springtime fun rather than one of a return to winter!
Base depths at many areas are at their deepest levels in years and it's unusual for them still to be growing as we enter April. Several French resorts including Flaine, Avoriaz and La Rosiere look like they might hit the 5m mark shortly, whilst Engelberg in Switzerland may reach 7m with the forecast snow.
Across the Atlantic it has kept snowing in the West of the continent, albeit with not quite the volumes as we saw earlier in March. There are a few interesting snow stories to tell too – including Portugal's one ski area Serra de Estrela being closed due to too much snow at the weekend and orange snow falling across much of Eastern Europe as fine sand blown across from African dust storms got mixed up with snow clouds in the area's upper atmosphere.
In the Alpine Forecast
The week ahead, through Easter and in to the start of April, looks decidedly snowy. In fact the snowfall has already started in the Western Alps and is forecast to continue until early next week.
Although big accumulations (perhaps as much as 50cm in some places) are possible on higher slopes, most ski areas are expected to get 5-15cm daily; but that could add up to a metre of new snow at some resorts by this time next week.
See where it's expected to snow this week...
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EUROPEAN ALPS
Austria
There's an increasingly snowy picture to the Austrian Alps in the run up to the Easter weekend. After a sunny weekend it started to turn snowy on Tuesday and some areas have already clocked up 10-20cm of snowfall, with resorts on the western side of the country seeing the most fresh snowfall so far. The snow is expected to keep falling through the remainder of this week but perhaps only another 10-20cm for most areas, although the Arlberg is expecting more than a foot (30cm) by Easter Sunday. Base depths remain good across the country – the deepest 5.5m on the Dachstein glacier but most areas have 2m plus on upper slopes.
A lot of lower Austrian resorts close after the first one or two weeks of April so it's likely they'll end their seasons on a snowy high this year.
France
The snow is already falling in France after a sunny weekend there, forecasters are predicting more than a metre will have arrived at some higher areas like Avoriaz by Monday which looks set to take it and possibly several others past a remarkable 5m/15 feet.
Chamonix is forecast to get the most snow with as much as 60cm (two feet) in 48 hours this week. But snow conditions are good pretty well everywhere for the start of April in the French Alps with almost all areas reporting the snow lying at least 2m deep up top, and there was even more fresh snow down in the French Pyrenees last week.
Italy
Italy has had a sunny week but here too the snowfall is arriving and up to 50cm of snow is forecast by Easter weekend, with the biggest accumulations expected in Central and Western Italy at ski areas like Passo Rolle and Passo Tonale. Madonna di Campiglio and Cervinia are two of the bigger resorts in the country's top five for spring 2018 snow depth, both at around 3.9m (13 feet) and with both having 20-30cm of new snow in the forecast it's looking like one or both will hit and pass the 4m snow depth mark by the weekend. It's currently looking snowier in Italy towards the end of this week right across the country with Cortina forecast to get 60cm of snow by the end of Saturday for example.
Switzerland
As mentioned in the introduction it's possible that Engelberg will reach a 7m upper slope base depth if the snow piles up as expected through the rest of this week. Certainly the snow is now dumping again in Switzerland with many areas reporting 10-30cm of fresh cover in the past 48 hours. Although Engelberg takes the headlines with its huge base up on the Titlis glacier (Which is open in to May), most other major Swiss areas have very deep snowpacks too, which are in most cases the deepest for many years. Saas Fee, Andermatt and Laax are all at around the five metres mark. Snow should keep falling ion Switzerland too through the Easter weekend.
Eastern Europe
The ski season in Eastern Europe is starting to wind down with some lower elevation areas set to close after the Easter weekend. Bansko in Bulgaria says it will be open a further fortnight until April 15th. It reports 30 centimetres of fresh snow in the past few days and its base at around 2.5 metres on upper slopes.
Scotland
It's been a remarkably consistent ski season across Highland Scotland's five hills. No huge snow falls but a gradual building of bases and most remarkably, few major thaws and few violent storms enabling all areas to open pretty much all of their terrain, pretty much all season long – that's very unusual. The good news is it's looking great for the Easter holidays too, with some fresh snow and everywhere open. Temperatures are getting warmer in the afternoon but so far there's been no serious thawing of the 40-60cm bases.
Pyrenees
The temperatures have been climbing up closer to freezing and low positive temperatures in Andorra as spring begins to be spring at last, although there was still a little fresh snow on Monday. It's looking good for the final (Easter) weeks of the season with all runs open and all lifts operating across the mountains.
Forecasts are also predicting up to 30cm of fresh snow by the weekend too. There was more snow on the French side of the Pyrenees in the last week and more big falls elsewhere in Spain where Sierra Nevada has now officially extended its season in to May.
Scandinavia
Sunshine and (sometimes quite substantial) snow showers in Scandinavia – Voss, for example, has had nearly 40cm of fresh snow in the first half of this week. So Scandinavian ski areas – where it's now daylight until 9pm already, are also in good shape for Easter and April skiing. Bases are now up to 3.8m (nearly 13 feet) in Western Norway.
North America
Canada
More big snowfalls for western Canada with up to 45cm of fresh snow reported in the past 72 hours. Most ski resorts in the area will close on either the 8th or 15th of April so we're into the 2017-18 season end game here, but it should be quite a good end with bases lying at the 2.5-5m base depth mark in Alberta and BC and still more fresh snow falling. The days are longer too and the temperature climbing from their super-lows of January and February.
No fresh snow of note and nothing in the forecast on Canada's east after a mostly snowy March but bases here, typically 50-150cm, should see them through. Of course not all Canadian ski areas close by mid-April – Marmot Basin, whistler, Lake Louise and Sunshine are amongst those staying open in to May.
USA
More big snowfalls in Western USA this week with ski areas in California, Colorado and Utah reporting up to 50cm of fresh snow in the first half of this week. Mt Baker in Washington state is closing in again on Engelberg for that 'deepest snow in the world' title, it too has more than 6m/20 feet lying. Time is running out, as in Canada, for many US area though with closing day for the season only a week or two away for the majority, although it seems likely many in California as well as areas like Arapahoe Basin in Colorado and Snowbird in Utah will make the most of the late snowfall by staying open in to May or beyond. Over in the east not much fresh snowfall in the last seven days and classic spring skiing is the order of the day.