Spring skiing is pretty snowy in Breckenridge, Colorado...
Spring in the valleys, but plenty of snow at altitude - with more fresh arriving on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Snow Headlines - March 21st
- Heavy snowfall in the Rockies brings a powdery start to the week.
- Warm weather, wet snow and rain for World Cup Finals on low slopes in Austria.
- Fresh snowfall and colder weather in Eastern North America.
- More low-lying Austrian terrain closes early due to warm weather.
More snow forecast, mainly at altitude, across the northern hemisphere...
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World Overview
We've reached the start of springtime by the Astronomical measure of the season now, joining meteorological springtime which kicked off three weeks ago. That's brought with it the usual mix of conditions we get as the seasons change across the northern hemisphere.
So we've had some fresh snow showers on higher slopes providing some nice freeriding, but also very warm temperatures in Alpine Valleys, melting the remaining snow cover at lower levels and turning things sticky at mid-mountain by midday.
Europe
Austria
Austria's larger, lower ski regions like the Skiwelt, Kitzbuhel and the Saalbach Hinterglemm domain that's currently hosting the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals, are locked in a losing battle with nature.
Despite still having 65-95% of slopes open (although the Skiwelt just dropped to 51%), it is heavy wet snow, white ribbons on green hillsides and definitely at its best first thing.
Most of these ski areas close at, or soon after, the Easter weekend.
Austria has more glacier resorts than any other country, however, and plenty of high-altitude terrain at resorts like Obertauern and Ischgl will open into May.
Most report deep snow up high and freeze-thaw conditions.
The past week has seen plenty of sunny weather with some mostly light showers, snow up high, and rain below - and that looks set to continue.
France
After a few final snow/sleet/rain showers earlier this week, we've seen some very warm temperatures in valleys, getting up as high as +15C with the freezing point climbing above 3,000m, so it definitely feels like Spring is here.
Fortunately, most of the main ski areas have snow lying up to 4.8 metres (that's 16 feet) deep up high and as long as you're heading for slopes above 2,000m you should find most runs still open and in good shape for the start of the Easter fortnight. The 3 Valleys still reports about 580km of its slopes open and it's a similar 90% plus for most other big French regions.
Chamonix announced on Thursday that higher runs in its Brevent sector would stay open an extra week, through to 21st April; it currently has snow lying almost 3m deep up top.
Italy
Warm, sunny weather has been dominating Italy's ski slopes since early in the week and those conditions will continue in most areas into the final week of March.
Temperatures of up to +15C have reached 1500m altitudes in the afternoons so the end of the season definitely feels imminent.
Some Italian areas plan to continue into late April; in the case of resorts like Cortina and Cervinia, into May.
Conditions are certainly much better above 2,000m altitude although with the freezing point now getting above 3,000m it's freeze/thaw conditions even to high elevations.
Most of the country's big-name resorts still have 80-100% of their slopes open for the Easter fortnight.
Switzerland
Swiss centres have a similar mix of Spring weather, with very warm temperatures (up to +16C) reported below 1000m in ski area valleys, with the freezing point up above 2,000m.
There has been powder and freeriding above about 2,500m over the past few days, however, and lower temperature and heavier snow is currently forecast for the first few days of next week.
Saas Fee, Laax and Lötschental are posting some of the deepest snow depths in the world right now - on their highest slopes - all over 4 metres deep.
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is coming into its own for Spring skiing as usual.
Most of the region's larger areas are fully open (until well into April and in some cases, early May) and several have extended spring opening hours; in the case of Finland's Ruka, until 7 pm six days a week then 11 pm, on Fridays.
Ruka just reported another 10cm accumulation.
Temperatures have been colder than on 'mainland Europe' to the south as you'd expect and there have been some good snowfalls, Norway's Geilo among centres posting 25cm of fresh snow to start the week.
Pyrenees
Although temperatures have risen a little and the heavy snowfall has eased to showers with longer sunny spells, conditions remain the best of the season in The Pyrenees as we reach the final 3-4 weeks.
Base depths are more than double (in some cases triple) what they were at this point last month and most of the region's bigger resorts have 90% or more of their slopes open. For Pas de la Casa – Soldeu El Tarter (aka Grandvalira) that's over 200km, the most of the season.
Continuing mostly dry, but with snow/sleet/rain showers into the weekend.
Scotland
Scottish slopes have been battling to keep terrain open for the Easter holidays, not that there was much, alas, and have been helped by more snowfalls earlier in the week on high slopes, but against that temperatures were very warm earlier in the week leading to a net loss.
Glencoe closed its main area this week and Cairngorm hasn't operated anything since Monday due to a weekly two day closure followed by two days of gales. It's not clear if anything beyond nursery slopes will be open there at the weekend, but temperatures are dropping. The gales have currently closed most areas.
So it currently looks like there won't be much more than nursery slope areas maintained by all-weather snowmaking guns for the Easter fortnight. That's available at Cairngorm, Glenshee and The Lecht, all being well with a dry slope and an all-weather snow toboggan slope at Glencoe and Nevis Range unable to offer snow sports.
Eastern Europe
Spring weather continues to impact snow cover in Bulgaria with the thaw reducing lower slope cover.
There have been a few snow showers up high though and temperatures have been dropping well below freezing, down to -10C up high on Bulgarian slopes so it's freeze-thaw.
Smaller, lower centres have closed but the big names still have 50-70% of runs open on the upper mountain.
Bansko, with about two-thirds of its runs still open, has both the deepest snow and most terrain open in the region, though its long run back to the base is getting very thin.
North America
Canada
It's been a mostly good week in Canada, with cooler temperatures in the East and the best snow depth of the season and all trails open in the west.
Against that temperatures have been rising again, particularly in western BC, with Whistler reporting +15C down at resort level in the afternoons and two feet lost from it's upper base depth, although that's still at 2.4 metres (8 feet).
That said, the forecast is looking more promising, with snow showers and sub-zero temperatures around the clock on higher slopes and temperatures dipping back into single figures early next week on the Pacific coast, and North America's largest ski area continues to post almost every run open and lift operational for the Easter fortnight.
USA
The Rockies saw more snowfall through the weekend (it was already falling as we published last week's report) so storm totals ended up over several feet in many areas, with southern centres doing particularly well.
The East Coast has also seen snow showers and colder temperatures this week, good news with the Easter period coming up and hopefully providing a final boost after a lacklustre Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Year at the start of the season.
Most areas across the country are almost fully operational, although smaller, lower centres have already started closing and most US resorts will close just after Easter or on the first or second weekends of April.
Several dozen ski areas will continue to late April or into May. Washington state's Crystal Mountain has now extended its season to the end of next month and Oregon's Timberline started running its spring/summer Palmer chairlift last weekend.