Dawn over a very snowy (3metres / 10 feet base) Cauterets, France this morning.
This Week's Snow Headlines
- Base at Mammoth Mountain near 7 metres.
- After big snowfalls, its cold and sunny in the Alps.
- Scottish areas open a bit of terrain briefly, then close again.
- Pyrenees looking good after nearly 2m of snowfall at some areas.
- Some fresh snow in the Dolomites, but not much.
- Good conditions in Eastern Europe after lots of heavy snowfall.
It has been the snowiest week in the Western Alps this season but things have now quietened down again and we're back to clear, sunny skies. In fact it is also very cold with it, with many Alpine resorts seeing temperatures below minus 20C over the past weekend. Ski areas in the Alps and Pyrenees have seen up to 1.5m / 5 feet of fresh snow over the last week, much of it falling last weekend, and there have been smaller accumulations since.
Across the Atlantic the snowfall has perhaps slowed a little but totals for January remain meteoric and after some 20 feet/6m has fallen on Mammoth so far its edging up towards a 7m (23 foot) base which is fairly unprecedented, especially this early in the season.
In the Forecast
In Europe, temperatures - in particular - will see the biggest change as the severe cold of this week gives way to more moderate weather. Temperatures should rise to, or a little above, seasonal averages (for January) by next weekend.
Generally, conditions will remain clear and there's not a huge amount of snow forecast for the main Alpine areas. That said, there is the possibility of a "Genoa Low" developing through this coming weekend which may bring snow into the Aosta Valley and other locations (particulary Italian) on the South of the main Alpine ridge. Definitely worth watching the forecasts if you're in the area, or can get there!
Moving into next week, there are early indications of quite widespread snow for the last week of January; potentially good for the North and West Alps. Keep an eye on the J2Ski forecasts, but that's too far ahead to be relied upon as yet.
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The Alps
Austria
Austria had the biggest snowfalls in the first week of January when the snow did not really make it much further west in to France and Switzerland. In the 'second wave' last week it got less than further west, but some areas in Salzburgerland including Saalbach have had around 2 metres of snow now since the start of the year. Bases are now looking much, much better than they were in December as a result. Most areas have 1-2m bases and at Solden it's up to 2.2m, the deepest in the country. The only area that doesn't look too healthy still is Bad Kleinkirchheim down in the far Southwest which still only has a 15-20cm base although it says all but one of its 24 lifts are operating and runs are in good shape. Although there's been less fresh snow in Austria than elsewhere still most Austrian areas got 30-60cm of snow in the last 7 days and a couple of small areas as much as a metre.
France
French ski resorts have had their snowiest week of the 2016-17 season with much of the snow falling between Thursday and Sunday. Although parts of the Chamonix Valley claimed more than 1.5m of new snow, most areas were in the 60-90cm bracket although the French Pyrenees also did very well with more than 1.5m of new snow reported at Cauterets. As with most of Europe, French slopes are generally now in great shape with blue skies and (currently) very low temperatures. Of the resorts that had a tricky December for limited snow cover, Flaine claimed a 1m snowfall in 24 hours at the end of last week and now has a 40-200cm base, so problem appears to be solved. Morzine, which had very little snow, now has a 40-90cm base. The country's deepest snow base is reported to be in Val Cenis at 40-245cm.
Italy
After our forecasts a week ago showed no snow again for the Dolomites, a few hours after posting the models started to predict snow – if not a whole lot. In fact Alta Badia, which is perhaps suffering the most, claimed one of the bigger snowfalls – 25cm, and now reports a 10-20cm base, 10cm better than last week if still not that great. Unfortunately our forecast is again showing sunny skies and low temperatures for the week ahead with nothing fresh on the horizon, so let's hope that again changes soon after posting. That said, it is ideal snowmaking conditions for The Dolomites where thousands of kilometres of groomed runs have been successfully created with artificial snow this winter again. As has been the pattern this season though there was snow in Western Italy with 80cm for Cervinia, 50cm for Courmayeur. Conditions are very good there and Pila has the deepest base in Italy at 2m.
Switzerland
Switzerland, like France, saw some of its biggest snowfalls this season during the past week, particularly around the weekend. More than half of the country's leading ski areas got a least a foot (30cm) of new snow and many double that. Grindelwald – one of the areas that had been suffering from poor cover – saw the biggest snowfall of 83cm; it now claims a 30-70cm base, much better than before. The snowfall was so heavy that the classic Lauberhorn downhill above neighbouring Wengen had to be cancelled. Swiss areas are now generally in pretty good shape with snow at resort level for the first time this winter for many and over 1m at altitude for most. Sadly St Moritz has the least impressive stats of 18-49cm ahead of it staging the bi-annual Alpine World Championships. However the cold weather and lack of fresh snow may be welcomed there rather than having the event-cancelling snow that Wengen had.
Scandinavia
Large quantities of new snow, a prolonged cold period and lots of open slopes – the heavy snowfalls over recent days and the ongoing cold weather are good news for skiing enthusiasts in Scandinavia. SkiStar, the region's largest resort operator reports that over the last few days, significant amounts of snow have fallen in the Swedish and Norwegian mountains. In SkiStar's resorts of Åre, Sälen, Vemdalen, Trysil and Hemsedal there is up to 35 centimetres of new snow.
"It's great that we have had so much snow. We're opening new slopes all the time. The conditions for skiing are perfect with lots of new snow and plenty of sunshine in the forecast," said Linda Morell, head of PR at SkiStar.
The heavy falls mean that in many places in the mountains of Sweden and Norway the snow is almost one metre deep. At SkiStar's resorts, new slopes are being opened every day.
Pyrenees
A really good week for snowfall in the Pyrenees with several areas claiming 1.5m (five feet) of fresh snow or more. Unlike the Alps, a little more is expected over the next few days too. Resorts in Spain all have at least 1m bases now, with Baqueira/Beret reporting the deepest in the region at 1.8m (six feet). All resorts report excellent piste conditions and off piste powder. In Andorra there's over a foot of snow in the villages and 1.2-1.8m up top, with Soldeu claiming it has had 1.8m of snow this week. A similar picture on the French side with Cauterets also reporting nearly six feet of fresh snow.
Eastern Europe
Conditions continue to be the best in years in Eastern Europe with most ski areas now having 1.5m/5 feet or more of snow lying and another 30cm/1 foot in the last week. There's also more snow forecast here. Borovets has the deepest base in Bulgaria at 155cm but the other centres are very close behind.
Scotland
Scotland's ski season remains fairly disasterous. After just a few areas opening very limited terrain on a couple of weekends in November and nothing open at all in December or the New Year holidays almost all areas did open briefly at the weekend, again limited terrain, but it is warm and sunny once again now so the bit of snow cover there was is no longer skiable and looking towards February there's so far no big change in the weather in sight.
North America
Canada
After a fairly snowless week or so in the West, the snowfall has been getting heavier again in Canada; Whistler reported nearly 40cm/16 inches overnight on Monday/Tuesday and other areas in the West got 20-30cm too. There's been more snow in the East too, if not quite so much, 10-20cm in the last 7 days in Quebec. Bases remain good East and West with Whistler and Mont Ste Anne the two deepest at around 2m each.
USA
More big snowfalls in the US if perhaps not quite so big as the previous fortnight. So we have a situation where 2-3 feet of fresh snow doesn't look great, as it normally would, when compared to double that in previous weeks. But the good thing about the latest big falls is they're not so huge they close the resorts. Mammoth once again claimed the biggest 7 day snowfall at 1m, but there's been typically 40-60cm in states like Utah and Wyoming and 20-40cm in Colorado. More snow in the Eastern US too, just not so much.