After more than a month of very warm temperatures in Central Europe which brought double-digit heat to many of the glaciers in the Alps, more unsettled weather has brought torrential rain to Alpine valleys, but also some fresh snow on high slopes around the 3,000m mark, including some that are open for summer skiing and boarding. This has meant, briefly, fresh summer snow for some.
The snow is still falling and some of the 10 currently open glacier ski areas have been closed temporarily because of dangerously strong winds that have arrived too, but there are initial reports of some fresh snow and more is expected in the next 48 hours.
Zermatt, which is home to a year-round ski area and the highest ski slopes in Europe has reported 10cm of fresh snow over the past 48 hours.
Tignes hasn't had any fresh snow reported yet but 15cm/6 inches are forecast for the next 48 hours here.
The Hintertux glacier (pictured above after its last snowfall in mid-spring), which has 10 runs open and a near 2m base, expects 10cm of new snow over the next few days too.
The tenth glacier ski destination, Cervinia, has opened for its 2017 summer skiing season yesterday.
Elsewhere in the world the Fonna glacier in Norway claims the deepest snow base in the world for an open ski area at the moment with 7 metres. At Mammoth in California the snow is still just over 4m deep having been above 8m in mid-winter. South of the equator it has been snowing in the Andes, Australia, Southern Africa and New Zealand at the same time as it has been snowing in the Alps. The Andes have the deepest base in the southern hemisphere reported so far with up to 2m of snow depth in Chile.