The heavy snowfalls in the Pyrenees which started off as 'very big' earlier this week have just continued through the week to become the biggest snowfalls recorded anywhere in the world this winter.
Many areas were reporting up to 90cm (three feet) in 24 hours at the peak of the snow and several resorts in France, Spain and Andorra now report more than 1.8m (six feet) of snow this week now, Cauterets in the French Pyrenees is reporting the biggest snowfall of all – 2.2m, (7.3 feet) of snow. It's base depth of 4.7m is just a few centimetres behind the deepest in the world at present.
This volume of snow has of course caused significant logistical problems on and off the slopes. The roads to many ski areas were blocked and some remain so, although other areas have re-opened today. On the slopes, besides digging out lifts and grooming runs, the avalanche danger was reported at the maximum level 5 out of 5. There are also sadly unconfirmed reports of a fatality with somebody reported killed by a snow blower clearing roads.
Snowfall stats for the past week at present include 1.7m for Spain's largest area Baqueira Beret and 1.5m at Formigal; then in Andorra 1.9m has been reported at Grandvalira (Soldeu and Pas de la Casa) whilst Vallnord has had 1.5m – one of its areas, Arcalis, was cut off earlier this week.
It has been difficult for French areas to access the slopes to measure snow depths in the last few days but all have reported at least a metre of snow as the storm built.
It is the second huge snowfall to hit the region this ski season. The earlier falls brought pictures of people wading chest deep through the fresh snow, this time it seems the snow is even deeper.