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Snow Report Summary
This Week's Headlines
- A foot of snow at Jackson Hole takes it past 300 inch/7.5m season total.
- Heavy snow in Norway; up to a foot (30cm) of fresh snow in the last 24 hours.
- Moderate snowfalls in the Alps, Rockies and Pyrenees.
- More snow expected in the run up to the Easter holidays.
Spring has had a colder and snowier start than winter did in most of the world's leading ski areas; there's been fresh snow this week in the Alps, Pyrenees and Rockies amongst other areas. In between times there have been a lot of ideal blue sky days and excellent spring skiing.
Forecasts for the next week or so indicate an Easter likely to be rather snowier than Christmas was!
In The Forecast!
The European forecast models, again, are currently quite dynamic in their predictions but do seem to be inidicating a brief roller-coaster of temperatures over the next few days. There is likely to be widespread snow over the weekend but the height of the rain/snow line is very uncertain at the moment; could be anywhere between 1200m and 1800m, albeit likely to be lower in the Eastern Alps than the West.
The first week of April looks to be a little cooler than average, with regular but mainly light snowfall just about everywhere... so conditions for Easter are looking very promising at the moment!
Check the J2Ski Forecasts regularly for the latest updates!
The Alps
Austria
There was snow across Austria during the past few days, with most areas receiving a few inches of snow last weekend and heavier snow reported at several higher resorts in the past 24 hours – up to 10cm at the Kaunertal glacier and at Obergurgl. Kaunertal has the deepest snow base in the country at just under 11 feet (325cm) and it is Austria's glacier resorts – several due to stay open throughout spring, which dominate the country's 'snowiest resorts' list.
Cover levels down at the base of the slopes are markedly thinning as the season enters its last weeks at many Austrian areas with 20-40cm the norm, although this should be enough to see most through to the end, especially as significant new snow is forecast. In fact it has already started, 20cm of fresh snow was reported at Nassfeld this morning.
France
Moderate snowfall across France over the past week – the biggest accumulation of fresh snow being a foot at Tignes, but for most areas just a few inches, most of it falling last weekend, although there has been more snow in the last 48 hours. More moderate snowfall is expected over the coming week. Base depths remain good across most of the country with 40-80cm the norm at resort level and 1-2m on upper runs although a number of areas in the French alps, including Avoriaz and Val Cenis, Valfrejus, still have around than 3m bases.
Italy
A similar picture to the rest of the Alps and the rest of the season in Italy with 10-30cm of snow in the Alps in the West, 5-20cm in the Dolomites to the East over the last seven days. Cervinia, as it so often has this winter, reporting the most new snow – 32cm.
Madesimo, which had no fresh snow this week, still has the country's deepest base at 4.8m – one of the three deepest reported bases in the world at present. The dolomites missed out on the snow last weekend but there have been reports of up to 20cm, of fresh snow (Canazei) in the last 24 hours. Base depths are generally similar to France across the country, most areas have 40-90cm at resort level, 1-2m on upper slopes, so looking good through to the end of season now. Moderate further snowfalls are expected over the coming week.
Switzerland
Swiss areas have also seen snowfall of 10-40cm over the last week, the biggest falls at Verbier and Zermatt, and much of it falling last weekend. Moderate to significant snowfalls of 30-60cm are forecast for the coming week across most of the country. Snow depths on the mountain are generally healthy on higher slopes across the nation but at resort level there are a growing number of areas including Gstaad, Adelboden, Crans Montana, Verbier and Wengen that report no snow left down at resort level. Andermatt, which reports 10cm of fresh snow, continues to claim the deepest snow in the world at 5m, the only resort with that much.
Scandinavia
It's snowing heavily in Scandinavia at the moment, particularly in Norway, where many centres are reporting 20-30cm of new snow in the last 24 hours. Temperatures remain good enough for another month of the season at most resorts where snow depths are in the 90cm-150cm for most of the region's resorts.
Pyrenees
There's been 10-20cm of new snow in the Pyrenees earlier this week, freshening up conditions on the deep snow base that still remains 2-4m deep at most centres from huge snowfalls now more than a month ago. It's certainly been a great winter for snowfall in the region.
Eastern Europe
A few inches of fresh snow on Eastern European slopes have helped to keep conditions fresh at most areas. Base depths in Bulgaria remain excellent after the unexpectedly heavy snowfall there a fortnight again. Further north in Slovenia and Romania the bases are thinning but should make it through to the planned season end next month.
Scotland
The West/East split for snow conditions in Scotland has taken a more dramatic turn with the two Easterly ski areas of Glenshee and The Lecht having to call it a day after the thaw broke up their snow cover. At Cairngorm and in the West there was more fresh snow for Glencoe and Nevis Range which look in great shape for the Easter holidays. A few inches more snow seems to keep coming most mornings there too.
North America
Canada
There's been more late snow in Alberta and BC this week, most of it on the Eastern side of BC – where up to 40cm has been reported at Silver Star, although Whistler on the coast picked up a few more inches. Base depths remain solid with most areas closing in a fortnight's time –up[ around the 1.5m mark. Of course not all Canadian areas close early, with centres in Quebec open to late April and the ski areas around Banff open to May.
USA
There's less than a fortnight of the 2014-15 ski season left at Jackson Hole but it just moved back to the 'deepest snow base in the US' table and over the 2m/7 feet mark thanks to a foot of fresh snow on Wednesday/Thursday. However it did not get the most new snow there this week, an honour taken by nearby Big sky in Montana, the largest ski area in the US this season (Although due to lose that title to the amalgamated Park City and canyons ski areas next) – it reported two feet of fresh snow. Elsewhere there's been up to a foot of snow in Colorado and six inches at Utah ski areas too. In New England the snow depths are holding firm although this week there's been little fresh snow there for the first time in several months.