The snow has started falling again in the Alps and the first snowfall totals for Friday morning are in. The snowfall is expected to continue for several days and bring half-a-metre plus to higher slopes at some areas by the end of the weekend. Most areas report heavy snow falling at present.
Swiss ski areas have reported the biggest numbers so far with Arolla claiming a remarkable 95cm (to be confirmed!), others reported up to 45cm. Of the big name areas Verebier say they've had a foot of snowfall so far, as does Grimentz, with 20cm in the Jungfrau and for Engelberg.
Italy has seen some of the best early falls with Passo Tonale posting the image above and a skier at Val Senales (Schnalstal) describing the snow as "between ankle and knee deep" with cold temperatures, no wind and fresh snow off-piste.
Serfaus and Galtur have posted the biggest 24 hour totals in Austria so far of 20cm. Lech got 15cm so far and there's been 14cm at the Pitztal Glacier. With valley temperatures still quite warm, St Anton has posted images of wet looking snow in resort this morning.
In France, most reports in so far are from Thursday afternoon, not this morning yet. But at that point Morzine had posted 20cm in the last 24 hours, Chamonix 10cm and Val Thorens 7cm of fresh.
There was a first spell of snow falling at the start of this week when 20-30cm accumulations were widely reported on Monday/Tuesday before sunshine returned in most areas.
There's also been fresh snowfall in the Pyrenees with Spain's largest ski area Baqueira Beret describing conditions there as "powder" after a 5-10cm snowfall over bight.