It has been getting increasingly snowy in the Alps since the start of December with ski areas like Engelberg, Laax and Andermatt posting 50cm total snowfalls in the past week, Germany's Zugspitz glacier, nearly 60cm/2 feet.
The only real downside to this snowy good news is that the snow has been falling high up, mostly above 1800m, lower slopes have tended to see rain instead. With the exception of Andermatt which says it has 1cm of snow at resort level, the other three reports 0cm at the base of the slopes – a picture common in the Alps at present and not unusual this early in the season.
However things are set to change this weekend when some fairly huge snowfalls are forecast – particularly on Sunday, but perhaps more importantly temperatures are plummeting meaning it should snow down to lower levels this time.
The Northwesterm Alps seem to be in line for the biggest dumps with many Northern French and Swiss resorts lined up to receive up to a metre of snow (half of it on Sunday) if forecasts prove correct – which – now we're only a few days away, looks more likely than not to be the case. 80-100cm is being forecast for many.
Further south and east the figures are a little less impressive, but still very positive, commonly 40-60cm in much of Austria (although 90cm for the Arlberg!).