Mammoth Mountain, California, with a frankly ridiculous amount of snow!
More snow, and very un-settled weather in Europe.
The Snow Headlines - 9th March
- Some big falls forecast for the Alps this weekend, but snowline will vary!
- More massive snowfalls in western US take world's deepest base near 8m.
- Cold and snowy weather in Scotland could finally lead to improvement in conditions.
- Utah resorts edge closer to 600" (15m) seasonal snowfall total.
- More summer snow up high in New Zealand.
Snow, at last, for the French Alps (and elsewhere)
Re-publication :- our Snow Report Summary, being the text above this line, is free to re-publish, but must be clearly credited to www.J2ski.com with text including "J2Ski Snow Report" linked to this page - thank you.
World Overview
It's a bit late in the day but as we publish this week's report, we appear to be finally seeing the big snowfalls the Alps could have done with three months ago. The forecasts have been pointing to some significant snowfall for weeks, but until now it hasn't materialised.
Now though, the snow is already falling (after rain in many areas) and set to intensify from Friday through the weekend, with some high slopes potentially seeing a metre of snowfall in 48 hours and two metres by this time next week. That's about as much as all of the winter so far.
The snow line will vary considerably late in the weekend, and on Monday could be up to around 2000m at times, although the latest forecasts indicate that mild spell will be very brief and significant snowfall (up to half a metre) should follow from Tuesday onward.
Elsewhere in Europe the Pyrenees, which have had some of the best snowfalls of the past fortnight, have seen more snow, and there's also been snow in the Tatra mountains of northern Europe and powder alarms again, of up to 30cm in 24 hours, in Norway.
Scotland still doesn't have much terrain open but it has got very cold and there's been some snowfall with more forecast so there are hopes of an improvement by next week.
In the US and Canada, it's looking pretty good almost everywhere in terms of snow depth and fresh snow. The problem, if you can call it that, in the west continues to be too much snow. More huge storms have deposited feet more snow with accompanying gales giving more blizzard conditions, blocking roads and cutting power leading to short-term resort closures at times. Against that the world's deepest snowpack creeps closer to 8 metres in California and the greatest seasonal snowfall total is nearly at 15 metres in Utah.
Europe
Austria
The snow is falling in Austria and temperatures are a little cooler, though we're still in a freeze-thaw range. The fresh snowfall is badly needed with snow cover 'tired' on many slopes and thin ribbons of white down to the valley floor in many areas, so the next few days will be crucial in seeing how much of a slope refresh we get and how much is a washout of those lower runs.
Looking at the stats, St Anton, for example, has seen the base on its high runs jump 20cm in the last 24 hours, but drop 15cm on a week ago down in the valley and it's a similar picture across the country.
France
There has finally been some snowfall on slopes in the northern French Alps, some of which hadn't really seen a flake since about the 17th or 18th of January, so it is badly needed.
Despite this, most areas still have 80-95% of their slopes open, but lower slopes cover is mostly pushed down the green hillsides to complete a white ribbon of snow, so more like mid-April than early March.
5-10cm of snowfall on Tuesday-Wednesday (20cm+ reported for Alpe d'Huez) appears to be the start of a snowy week, which as per our intro could see big accumulations by this time next week across the French Alps, at last. The concern remains for lower slopes though.
It's worth noting that Avalanche Levels up to 3 (Considerable) are now being reported at some resorts, and we've seen reports today of small slides already where new snow is failing to bond with the old. Take care!
Italy
Things are looking promising in Italy too with snow starting to fall across the country, heaviest so far in the northwest with Cervinia posting 40cm of snowfall in 24 hours on Thursday morning and plenty more forecast.
As with the rest of the Alps, there's concern about rain rather than snowfall at lower elevations but for most major resorts it's now looking promising.
Switzerland
Swiss ski centres are also seeing snowfall with Verbier and Zermatt both posting more than 20cm of fresh snow in the first 24 hours of the weather change, although here too there's the risk of rain at lower elevations. Most of the country's big regions like the 4 Valleys continue to have nearly all of their slopes open.
Scandinavia
There have been some good snowfalls this week with Norway's Roldal posting a 30cm snowfall in 24 hours midweek to give powder conditions there.
Although things may finally change over the coming week if the Alps receive anything like the snowfalls forecast, the past few months have seen Scandinavian ski centres post far more fresh snowfall than centres further south. Along with the snowfall though many have been reporting strong winds at times, occasionally hampering operations.
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees have had some of the best snow conditions of the past few weeks with several fresh snowfalls in late February and early March, but things have slowed down a good deal now with mostly dry weather and temperatures getting a little warm in valleys.
Grandvalira in Andorra, the region's biggest resort, reports 95% of its slopes open.
Scotland
Scottish ski centres currently have their most promising conditions and forecasts for several months.
Temperatures have dropped as low as -15C and Cairngorm reported 35cm of snowfall on Wednesday morning. There are still just a few runs open across Cairngorm, The Lecht and Glenshee with the western resorts of Glencoe and Nevis Range currently closed for snow sports, but the forecast is for more snowfall raising hopes that runs could reopen for the final months of the season.
Eastern Europe
There have been some good snowfalls in northern parts of eastern Europe with the Czech Republic's Spindleruv Mlyn and Jasna in Slovakia both reporting 20-30cm accumulations earlier in the week.
It's drier and getting warmer at lower levels further south but centres in Bulgaria are still reporting most of their terrain open.
North America
Canada
A good week in Canada, on the whole, with more light to moderate snowfalls, heaviest in the west, and temperatures remaining mostly below freezing. Quebec and the east have stayed cool, but have been drier, although conditions there remain the best they've been all season.
Continuing with similar conditions for the week ahead with temperatures mostly remaining sub-zero and more light to moderate snowfalls forecast in the west.
USA
The US has had another good week for snowfall.
Although ski areas in the West continue to report still more phenomenal snowstorms, it's worth mentioning that conditions in the East, which has had a much more challenging season with warm weather issues all winter, continue to be greatly improved with plenty of fresh snowfall and particularly good conditions in the north.
In the west, more massive storms have slammed in from the Pacific, two in the last week with a brief lull in between. Mammoth is now close to posting an 8-metre base on its higher slopes – the deepest in the world for quite a few years.
Brighton in Utah tops the seasonal snowfall total, now nearly at 600 inches or 15 metres!
All the snowfall has caused its usual complications though, burying access roads, buildings and even chairlifts, so a lot of digging out and avalanche mitigation work is needed to even open. Accompanying gales have brought blizzard conditions at times and brought down power lines, so sometimes too much snowfall is almost as bad as too little.
Next week's looking interesting...