Stubai Glacier were late opening the lifts today, after a metre of snow overnight...
Major snow storms for the West Coast, USA and continued heavy snow in parts of the Alps and the Dolomites; with more to come.
The Snow Headlines - March 7th
- Huge snowfalls for US West Coast ski areas, especially California; over 3m/10 feet for some.
- Pyrenees have most terrain open of 23-24 season after 1m plus snowfalls.
- Western Canada enjoys best conditions of 2024 after resorts see 1m+ 7-day snowfall totals
- Much more snowfall in the Alps. Some resorts get over a metre more snowfall this week.
- Avalanche risk hits Level 4 in a number of areas, some completely closed due to danger.
There's more snow forecast for Europe and elsewhere...
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World Overview
The biggest snowfall news worldwide this week comes from the huge storm that moved in from the Pacific, leading to "do not travel" warnings, power blackouts, 180mph winds and over 3m/10 feet of snowfall for some over four days - and leaving the El Nino hit region with North America's deepest lying snow. Other parts of the Western US saw 1metre / 3 feet+ snow over 7 days too, particularly welcome in the Northwest.
In Europe, the snow kept falling in the Alps, in some cases more than expected, with several areas in the main four ski nations seeing over a metre of snowfall more this week. It's tipped the avalanche danger to 4 on the scale of 5 in some areas with Obergurgl one of those completely closed at the time of writing because of it.
Elsewhere, The Pyrenees have had snowfall too and are in the best shape they've been all winter with (nearly) everything open at last. Scottish ski areas are still struggling with not enough snow though and more southerly Scandinavian areas saw the first rainfall of their season.
Europe
Austria
Austrian ski areas continue to reap the rewards - in terms of fresh snow and deeper bases to lower levels, as well as renewed freeriding opportunities - from the heavy snowfalls in the final week of February.
But most of the country's ski areas have also seen more snowfalls over the first week of March, with more big falls; the Stubai glacier among those reporting another metre plus accumulation. It, and others like Obergurgl, were among those completely closed by high avalanche danger at the time of writing this report.
The country's big areas like the Skiwelt, Saalbach Skicircus and the Arlberg remain 80-95% open and half-a-dozen Austrian areas (including the Arlberg) as well as glaciers like the Kaunertal and Stubai, have base depths up near 4 metres - with their seasons expected to continue into May and in some cases June.
More springlike conditions, with snow showers on higher slopes, are forecast.
France
French resorts saw perhaps a little more snowfall than forecast over the last week, particularly in the first half of this week when some 60cm 24-hour totals were reported for areas including Val Cenis and Val d'Isere. With other smaller falls through the week, it pushed the 7-day totals through the metre mark.
Most areas remain fully open and snow conditions are being claimed as the best of the season so far with so much fresh cover on the groomed runs as well as lots of freeriding potential from the off-piste powder.
The avalanche danger is widely at Level 3, Considerable, so there are warnings to only go off-piste with a guide and/or on areas known to be avalanche-safe. Alpe d'Huez continues to post the world's deepest snow at 4.8m (16 feet) up top.
It's looking drier through the weekend with more snowfall forecast next week.
Italy
Italy has had a good week for snowfall too, with 30-60cm accumulations posted in many areas right across the country's ski slopes. Everywhere is pretty much fully open with fresh cover on slopes and again, the best freeriding possible of 2024 so far.
The huge Via Lattea (Milky Way) ski areas on the French border have seen some of the biggest accumulations of the past week and reached a 3 metre (10 feet) base on its upper slopes having struggled earlier in the season.
Snowfall is expected to continue across Italy into next week with more heavy falls expected.
Switzerland
Swiss ski centres have seen more snowfalls over the last seven days and Switzerland is the only European nation to have ski areas posting 4m+ bases on upper slope depths, outside of France.
Among the more noteworthy snowfall totals this week were 90cm in 72 hours (i.e. three feet in three days), then another metre in the latter half of the week for Saas Fee.
The past week we've seen a mixture of sunny spells and moderate to heavy snow showers, boosting freeride terrain. It's also cooler than it was for much of February. But springlike freeze-thaw weather is gradually gaining its grip as we move further into March.
Western Switzerland will see more snowfall after a dry weekend, the east of the country staying drier longer.
Scandinavia
Scandinavia's superb season for low temps and fresh snow has been derailed a little, at least at more southerly destinations in the region, with warm weather, rain and fog rather than the powder reported all winter.
Things remain good, with lower temperatures now, but it's not been the best of weeks in parts of Norway. Lapland, on the other hand, has reported everything still below freezing, the snow light and powdery!
Pyrenees
The snow has kept falling in the Pyrenees, finally, with many areas now having posted more than a metre over the past two weeks, much more than they'd seen in the previous three weeks.
So most areas have finally been able to open nearly all of their slopes for the first time this season.
The snow should keep falling through the weekend so the final month of the 23-24 season should be far, far better than the first three-quarters of it was.
Scotland
Sadly there's not been much improvement in Scottish snow cover. Conditions have been fairly settled with just a few windy days and some snow showers, but not enough. Cairngorm has about a fifth of its runs open if you want to hike up to the open section with the funicular out of action.
The Lecht and Glenshee are little more than nursery slopes open still. Glencoe has about the most runs available, about a third of its terrain, but has warned demand doesn't really justify running the lifts they are operating at present. Nevis Range remains unable to offer snowsports.
Eastern Europe
Some snowfall up high in Bulgaria but the spring thaw definitely seems to be well set in across Eastern Europe with base depths thinning fairly rapidly and the amount of open terrain at the main areas starting to drop too.
Most of the big-name areas like Jasna, Borovets and Zakopane still have 60-70% of their slopes open though, smaller lower centres have ended their seasons.
North America
Canada
It has been one of the best weeks of the season in Western Canada with a number of ski areas posting another metre of snowfall on top of some decent accumulations last week. Temperatures have also stayed low so essentially it's a return to normal service after months of unusually warm and dry (or wet) weather.
Whistler Blackcomb picked up an 83cm accumulation in three days through the weekend to reach a 2.5-metre base and its most open terrain of the season – around 90%.
USA
A massive four-day snowstorm that hit California from the Pacific lived up to expectations with storm totals of up to 3.2 metres (at Sugar Bowl) of snow, meaning the continent's deepest snow is now in California, with Mammoth Mountain moving to top spot at 4.4 metres.
The snow didn't float down gently but was driven in by winds gusting at up to 180 mph which left some areas scoured and huge drifts in others. Things have now settled down though, with terrain reopening and skiers warned of the dangers of tree wells.
There was plenty of snowfall elsewhere in the West too with resorts in the Rockies getting several feet of snow and those up in the Pacific Northwest some of the best of the season so far.
It's not such a great picture on the East Coast though with dry weather and some warm temperatures again, so bases remain very thin here, although most centres are still managing to keep 60-90% of their slopes open.
The coming week will see more snow showers in the west, though not as heavy as the last seven days.