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Perisher, Australia, bashing pistes under the glow of the Aurora Australis! Snow falls almost everywhere in the southern hemisphere, with great skiing in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Chile. The Snow Headlines - August 15th - More snowfall in New Zealand - best conditions of season to date. - Most Australian centres fully open, or close to it. - Argentinian ski areas post most terrain open, and deepest snow, on planet. - US (and North American) 23-24 ski season finally ends this weekend. - High temps on Alpine glaciers leads to rapid thawing and diminishing cover. 
Snow forecast for New Zealand, and South America
World Overview Conditions are some of the best of the season to date across the southern hemisphere's ski slopes, most of which are fully open, with at least some fresh snowfall reported in almost all areas, heaviest in the Andes and New Zealand. It is, at last, the final week of the 23-24 ski season in North America where the only centre still open from autumn last year says it will end its long season this Sunday. Across the Atlantic the hottest weeks of summer so far in the Alps have further impacted what's open at the few glacier centres currently open. Southern Hemisphere Australia Australian ski areas continue to report some of the best conditions of the season so far with most of the country's resorts now 90-100% open - and several posting 1m+ bases. There has not been much fresh snowfall this week but the resorts continue to reap the rewards of late July and early-August falls with overnight lows cold enough for snowmaking. The southern hemisphere's largest ski area outside South America, Perisher, is virtually fully open with more than 60km of slopes available. It's a similar scenario at Hotham, Falls Creek and Thredbo. Mount Buller, which only had 5% of its runs open this time last month, is now at nearly 70%. The weather looks like it will remain dry into the weekend with plenty of sunshine, and temperatures in the -3C to +9C range. New Zealand New Zealand has got into a nice pattern of snow dumps every few days with blue sky days in between. Some of the snow has been a little wet and heavy but the upside of that, ski areas say, is that it's good for run foundation. Snowfalls have been delivering lighter, fluffier snow towards the end of each dump, giving powder conditions the next day. The only downsides in the past week have been strong winds closing some slopes at times and (when the wind drops), hill fog impacting visibility. Mount Hutt has now got a 1.6m+ base, the deepest in the region and is one of half-a-dozen NZ resorts that are now fully open. Vhangeable weather will continue into the weekend with a mix of sunny spells and cloud with some showers possible. Temperatures pretty cold, in the -5C to +4C range. Argentina It has been a good week in Argentina with some good snowfalls in the north of the country, clear skies further south although temperatures here have been lower – mostly below freezing and getting as low as -12C, for some lovely crisp ski days. Most centres are 80-100% open. The snowfall has boosted bases once again and the only centres worldwide with snow lying more than 3 metres deep are to be found here with Las Leñas posting the world's deepest at 3.3m (11 feet). The southern hemisphere's largest ski area, Catedral, is posting 100km of slopes open, the most in the world at present. Chile It's been another mostly dry and frequently sunny week in Chile. Although the nights are still cold we are starting to see temperatures just edge up a degree or two. Base depths remain good and are indeed just a little behind those of Argentinian centres just a few kilometres away over the border. Similarly most Chilean areas are also 80-100% open with big names like Portillo and Valle Nevado fully open. The coming week looks like more of the same weather but with a chance of some light-moderate fresh snowfalls on southerly ski centre slopes like those of Nevados de Chillan, already posting the joint deepest base in the country at just under 3m (along with La Parva and Valle Nevado). Southern Africa Lesotho's Afriski remains fully open although temperatures have continued to rise a little and are now typically in the 0C to +10C range, limiting further snowmaking opportunities. However, the snowpack remains complete and the main run fully open. Another sunny week is forecast for the coming seven days. Europe Four glacier areas remain open to all in Austria, Italy and Switzerland. There are two more centres open, but currently only to race teams for training, up in Norway at Folgefonn and Galdhopiggen. It has been a very warm week in the Alps with temperatures getting well into double figures above freezing Celsius even at glacier level in the afternoon, with the result that open terrain continues to drop, and snow thickness on the glacial ice is diminishing fast. It has been mostly sunny but there have been rain showers on the snow too. Hintertux, Saas Fee, Zermatt (also accessible from Cervinia) and Passo Stelvio are each publishing between 4km and 10km of slopes open each. North America This coming Sunday 18th marks the end of North America's 23-34 season with the last area open, the Palmer snowfield on Mount Hood, above Timberline in Oregon, calling it a day on the continent's longest opening run – over nine months since last November. The past few weeks have seen temperatures in the 80s Fahrenheit and the open terrain there shrink to little more than a mile. Looking ahead, it's less than three months until the 24-25 season is expected to be underway on high slopes in Colorado and northerly slopes in Alberta, Canada. |
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Hotham, Victoria, Australia earlier today. Heavy snow in Argentina (again), as well as New Zealand, with top-ups for Chile and improving conditions in Australia. The Snow Headlines - August 8th - Perisher reports all lifts running for the first time in two years. - Heavy snow, and elevated avalanche risk, in Argentina. - Warm temperatures on Alpine glaciers see fast thawing of summer snow cover. - Best conditions of season so far in New Zealand. 
Find out where there is snow forecast
World Overview The main snow news this week has been the heavy snowfall in New Zealand sending more resorts there through the 1m base depth mark and allowing them to open more terrain, with most commercial centres on the South Island now fully open - or nearly so - ...but some smaller club fields without snowmaking still not open at all. In Australia, cold weather for more snowmaking has allowed centres to consolidate their terrain opening after the big snowfalls of late July and a growing number of resorts are now fully open, or almost. Heavy snowfall in the Andes too has led to temporary closures while slopes are made safe and lifts dug out but the overall picture remains very positive. In the northern hemisphere, the ongoing battle is against warm summer temperatures impacting the remaining summer snow cover at the five centres currently open in Europe and North America. Despite that, the change in the seasons is getting nearer with another five glacier and northern latitude ski centres announcing that they plan to open for their 24-25 seasons in less than two months time. Southern Hemisphere Australia Australia's ski resorts are reporting some of the best conditions of the season thanks to more fresh snowfall and cold temperatures for snowmaking after the big snowfalls a fortnight ago. Perisher reported on Saturday that it had opened the 46th of its 46 lifts, The Olympic T Bar, for the first time since 2022 meaning all its lifts are running for the first time in two years. There's not been much snowfall but there has been more snow-making on Aussie slopes this week. Base depths are now through the metre mark with Thredbo and Perisher reaching around 125cm on their upper slopes. The mostly sunny skies and dry conditions continue to be forecast for the weekend too. Highs well into the high single figures in the afternoons but dipping to -7C overnight. New Zealand New Zealand's ski areas have enjoyed some fabulous conditions following big snowfalls last week, delivering the best conditions of the season to date. Most centres have been able to open more terrain and the majority of the commercial centres are now fully open (or close). There are exceptions to the good news though with several of the smaller club fields that are 100% reliant on natural snowfall saying they still don't have enough and on the North Island, Whakapapa on Mount Ruapehu continues to suffer with only a fraction of its terrain open. After sunshine last weekend, more clouds have rolled in with temperatures staying low and it looks like there'll be more snowfall over the next few days. Several areas posted 10-20cm accumulations as snow returned on Thursday and expected powder days through the weekend. Argentina Argentinian ski areas reported some more heavy snowfall in the past week, heaviest around last weekend before skies started to clear midweek. The snowfall, the most in a month or so following the very snowy May-June period, brought fresh powder but also increased avalanche risk, limiting open terrain for a while. The country continues to post the world's deepest snow, with over three metres lying on higher slopes at Chapelco and Las Leñas - and it seems likely the southern hemisphere's largest single ski area, Catedral near Bariloche, will return to having the most terrain open in the world once slopes are made safe to open again. Chile All of Chile's ski centres are 85-100% open thanks to the big snowfalls at the start of the season. There has been some snowfall this last week too, although it does not appear to have been so heavy as further east in Argentina, and conditions have turned clear and sunny again, although still cold, with lows below -10C and highs hardly reaching freezing. Nevados de Chillan has the country's deepest snow at 2.5m and the Tre Valles inter-connected area of Valle Nevado, La Parva and El Colorado is almost fully open delivering the largest ski area currently open in the world with over 100km of slopes. Southern Africa Lesotho's Afriski has had its usual sunny week, with temperatures in a wide range between -8 and +10C through the 24-hour cycle. Its main mile-long piste remains fully open with snowmaking used to top up cover overnight as required. The season ends here at the end of the month. Europe We're on four glacier ski areas still open in the Alps but temperatures have remained above freezing day and night, between around +2 and +10C at glacier level, so snowpack depths continue to fall and open terrain is diminishing too. There's no real sign of a temperature drop at present and the light showers there have been have fallen as rain rather than snow in most cases. Austrias's Hintertux and Switzerland's Saas Fee and Zermatt (also accessible from Cervinia), have about 10km of slopes open each. Italy's Passo Stelvio is also open with about 4km of runs there. Up in Norway the Fonna and Galdhopiggen glaciers have closed to the public for now but have race teams training and have been reporting great conditions for them. North America It's really just the Palmer Snowfield above Timberline on Mount Hood in Oregon that's still open in North America ...unless you count the Big Snow indoor snow hall in New Jersey or the hike-to terrain park at Colorado's Copper Mountain which is on its final weekend of summer 2024 this week. Temperatures at Timberline too have been very warm and well above freezing day and night so the snowpark and few miles of runs are best tackled in the early morning light. There's a fortnight left of the season to run there. |
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South America has led the way with snow so far this season, and heavy snow is falling there now. Australia has seen conditions improve recently, and New Zealand has new snow arriving.
Antillanca, Chile; great snow and more arriving... Where to Ski in August 2024 Early August is the mid-point in the Southern Hemisphere's ski season, when we expect every centre to be open. By the end of the month, the season will be starting to wind down and although some centres will make it to late October, we'll see the first season endings in countries like Lesotho. The Andes continue to post the deepest snow and most terrain open as we start August, despite not getting much July snowfall. That's thanks to the huge accumulations they saw in May and June. Australia has caught up a lot after big mid-July snowfalls there, whilst New Zealand is somewhere between the two. In the Northern Hemisphere, there are just a handful of areas still open, with glaciers in the Alps hoping the snow cover will hold through the hottest weeks of the year and allow them to stay open through the month. All glaciers in Scandinavia have now closed to the public but four remain open in the Alps. Only one resort is still open in North America, also battling the impact of warm temperatures on its snow cover - but planning to stay open into the latter half of August. Southern Hemisphere Australia Australia's season saw a dramatic improvement in mid-July when a big snowfall of nearly a metre in 7 days allowed ski areas to open most of their terrain. August marks the last full month of the season for some Aussie areas although some such as the largest, Perisher, which starts August with the most terrain open, aim to remain open into early October making September a full month too. New Zealand New Zealand has not had an epic season as yet with no massive dumps and a few centres still struggling to open at all, but the picture is "middling" because there have been some moderate snowfalls and snowmaking windows meaning the majority of centres start August with their slopes 50-75% open and a few have managed 100%. Things have improved in the final few days of July, with the biggest storm of the season delivering over 50cm of snowfall to several ski areas. Treble Cone is the first in the country to reach the 1m base mark on its upper slopes on July 30th. The North Island's ski areas particularly need snow, but it is falling there as we start the new month. All of New Zealand's ski areas should stay open through August with the first planning to close in late September and several aiming to keep operating to the end of October, snow permitting, when they'll be the last in the southern hemisphere to end their seasons. South America Although July was a largely dry month across the Andes, the huge snowfalls of May and June that saw most ski areas in Chile and Argentina start their seasons early - and some claim they'd had more snowfall before their season even began than they usually have in an entire season - mean that all are in good shape for the start of August. Famous names like Portillo continue to report great conditions and everything open whilst the Tres Valles (3 Valleys) of Chile have more terrain open between the Valle Nevado, La Palva and El Colorado Valleys (About 120km/75 miles) than anywhere else in the world at present. Over the Argentinian border Catedral near ski town Bariloche has about 100km of runs available, the second most and biggest area of any single resort. Southern Africa Lesotho's Afriski re-opened in June after missing last season and has had its main run fully open for the past few months. As usual, there's been little natural snowfall but overnight sub-zero temperatures and snow-making mean the run is maintained. August is traditionally the final full month of the three-month southern African ski season and things will culminate with 'Winterfest' on the final weekend of the month at Afriski. The region's other ski area, Tiffindell in South Africa, has not operated since winter 2019 and is currently up for sale. Europe Alps There are four ski areas in the Alps planning to stay open through August, all being well. Recent summers have seen all or most glacier ski areas forced to close, temporarily, due to snow melt from the glacial ice, but although July has seen base depth stats drop a lot, the cold snowy spring, as last year, has left conditions fairly good as we start the month. The four open areas include Hintertux in Austria, which has been posting the largest area open in the Northern Hemisphere through July - about 20km, and its snow is still several metres thick. Saas Fee and Zermatt are open in Switzerland as is Passo Stelvio in Italy, with Cervinia also having access to Zermatt's summer ski slopes. None of the current four are expected to close, unless forced to, in August and no other areas are expected to open until September. With Les 2 Alpes, Tignes and Val d'Isere all ending their summer ski seasons in July, there's currently nowhere open in France. Scandinavia Scandinavia's two small still-open ski areas, Folgefonn ("Fonna") and Galdhopiggen were open through July but Fonna announced close to the end of last month they'd close on the 29th leaving just Galdhopiggen, but then they too announced they'd close on August 1st (although they hope to reopen in October). Both centres are still open to teams for training, just not private individual recreational skiers and boarders. North America Last year three US centres managed to stay open into August, this year it's only really Timberline on Mount Hood in Oregon, where there are a few miles of slopes and a terrain park up on their Palmer snowfield. In years gone by this would normally stay open to a public holiday weekend in early September, but in recent years seasonal closure of the longest ski season in North America have been announced in mid-August, usually with just a few day's notice. This year though they have given a target end of season date - 22nd August, so fingers crossed they make it despite the warm temperatures. As with ski centres in Europe, the US resort has seen its snowpack thaw increasingly quickly with almost wall-to-wall sunshine and warm temperatures through July. |
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Perisher, Australia, taunting us on Monday this week... Fresh snow for many southern hemisphere ski areas, with much more snow forecast for South America in the coming week. The Snow Headlines - August 1st - Snowfall returns to South America after a mostly dry July. - New Zealand ski areas see up to 60cm of fresh snowfall this week. - Norway's glacier summer ski areas both suspend public skiing, remain open to race teams. - Two months to start of 24-25 winter season in Finland. - America's Timberline, the only centre still open in North America, names 18th August closing day. 
A lot of snow forecast for Argentina and Chile!
World Overview Snowy conditions have returned to most ski centres in the southern hemisphere after a rather dry week or two for most. Australia saw weekend snowfall, then New Zealand's slopes were dumped on at the start of this week with one of their biggest snowfalls of the year to date. Snow has also returned to the Andes and Patagonia this week after a predominantly dry July. There's somewhat warmer weather in the northern hemisphere and we've dropped from 7 to 5 centres left open this week with Scandinavia's two remaining glacier areas – Fonna and Gladhopiggen – both announcing they were ending public skiing and snowboarding in the last four days. Both are still open to teams for private training though and whilst that appears to be it for Fonna in 2024, Galdhopiggen says it will re-open to all in October when it expects conditions to improve. Southern Hemisphere Australia There was more fresh snowfall in Australia over the weekend, a fortnight after the big falls that transformed the season for the better (after a dry first six weeks to the season). There was about 20cm (8 inches) of fresh that further improved conditions overall allowing more terrain and lifts to open as well as providing some powder ski days at the start of this week. Since then it has been mostly dry and sunny and that's the forecast for the next few days too. Falls Creek is reporting some of the best conditions, it's upper slope base now more than 90cm (3 feet) deep and more than 90% of its terrain open. Larger area, Perisher, has a similar amount of terrain open – around 45km of slopes – although that represents 70% of its terrain. New Zealand New Zealand saw 2-3 days of snowfall to start this week, with some centres seeing over 60cm of fresh accumulations in total in what was the biggest snowfall of the winter so far. Treble Cone was one of those seeing the biggest falls and was the first in the country to post that it had reached a one metre base on its upper slopes on Tuesday. Mount Hutt and Mount Dobson have also passed the metre mark now. As skies have cleared, more centres have re-opened and more are now 100% open, or nearly so, than there have been all season to date. With blue skies and fresh pow, conditions are currently superb. It now looks like it should be increasingly sunny through the weekend but cold with lows of -10C, daytime highs around +3C in the mountains. Argentina A multi-day snowstorm is currently underway in Argentina which could dump over a metre of snow over three-four days on some of the country's slopes by the weekend. It's the biggest snowfall for over a month since the big dumps of May and June led to the most snow in Argentinian slopes to start the season in 30 years. The snowfall is closing terrain at present for safety and logistic reasons. Even before the snow arrived Catedral, South America's largest area, had about 100km of slopes open, the most of a single ski area on earth at present. Chapelco and Las Leñas are the only two centres worldwide reporting bases over 3 metres. Chile Chilean ski slopes have been in great shape all season after the huge autumn snowfalls and its resorts have a higher percentage of their slopes open than any other country. They include 100% open Portillo and the three resorts that make up the Tre Valles region east of Santiago, cumulatively offering the largest area open anywhere in the world with about 95% open and offering 115km of slopes between them (La Parva, El Colorado and Valle Nevado). After a sunny weekend and start to the week temperatures have dropped down towards -10C overnight, clouds have rolled in and snowfall is forecast over the next few days, if not so much as for Argentina. Heaviest will most likely be at more southerly centres like Nevados de Chillan. Southern Africa No real change in southern Africa this week with predominantly clear skies and lots of sunshine. Lesotho's Afriski continues to have its main run fully open, about a mile of machine-made snow. Overnight lows have been down below -5C and daytime highs not much above _+5C so not much thawing. August is the last month of the season here. Europe With Tignes closed in France at the end of last week we're down to four centres open in the Alps and, in terms of slopes open to the public, in the whole of Europe now. But it has been warm, with the freezing point moving above 4,000m and the highest glacier lifts even overnight, and daytime highs on glaciers going up towards double positive figures Celcius - seeing snowpacks on the glacial ice melting away pretty fast. So far those that want to be open remain so but open terrain has dropped at each of them and so have snow depth stats. Neighbours Saas Fee and Zermatt (also accessible from Cervinia) are posting around 10-12km of slopes open each and Saas Fee still reports the snow lying 3m/10 feet deep up top. Hintertux has dropped 20% of its open terrain compared to a week ago but is posting the most of the five centres open in the Northern hemisphere with 16km (10 miles) of slopes. Italy's Passo Stelvio is also open with about 4km of slopes to enjoy. Daytime temperatures have been reaching +8C on glaciers and will continue to do so, so the thaw will carry on too. In Scandinavia both of the remaining glacier areas that had been open to the public, Fonna and Galdhopiggen, have suspended operations for the public. Fonna did so a day earlier than previously announced, last Saturday, Galdhopiggen from Thursday, August 1st. The latter plans to reopen to the public in October when it expects to have fresh autumn snowfall but for Fonna that appears to be it for 2024. In the meantime, Sunday marks only two months until the 24-25 season is due to start at Levi and Ruka in Finland. Conditions have not been great on Scandinavia's glaciers this week with temperatures reaching +10C in the afternoons and rain showers reported. Next week looks much the same. North America Another largely sunny week in western North America with forest fires around ski areas more of a concern than snow levels. Canada's Kicking Horse was evacuated at the end of last week due to forest fire proximity whilst the ski town of Jasper to the north has had many properties destroyed by another inferno there. One ski centre, Oregon's Timberline on Mt Hood is still open though with a terrain park and a couple of miles of slopes up on the Palmer snowfield still open. They have now named a probable season end date of August 22nd, so there's three weeks left until the end of a nine-month 23-24 season. It's the only centre still open since last year that isn't a year-round resort. Temperatures have been up in the 60s and low 70s Fahrenheit in the daytime and the snowpack is thawing but should survive to the 22nd. |
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Yeah, this was Hotham Alpine Resort, Australia, earlier this week... Great snow in Australia giving great skiing, with the best conditions in the southern hemisphere still in Argentina and Chile. The Snow Headlines - July 25th - Over half a metre of snowfall for Australian resorts. - Tignes, last glacier open for skiing in France for summer 2024, ending its brief season. - Largest ski area open on the planet - in Chile - reaches 120km/75 miles. - Norway's Fonna glacier announces 2024 summer ski season end this Sunday. - Australia's largest resort overtakes New Zealand's for most terrain open. - Number of ski areas open in northern hemisphere drops to just 7. 
Useful snow forecast for Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Chile!
World Overview Australia's great week is the big news of the last seven days, with successive snowfalls, heaviest at the weekend, finally getting the season there properly underway with resorts able to get past the 50% mark for open terrain and some great powder conditions to boot. Not such exciting news for New Zealand as yet but here most of the bigger areas had 60-100% of their slopes open already. In South America, almost everywhere is fully open, after the huge autumn snowfalls there, but there's been little fresh snowfall in July. Not a big problem so far though with still the world's deepest snow and largest skiable areas currently open in Argentina and Chile. North of the equator we're down to the smallest number of outdoor centres open this year so far with just 7 remaining in five countries, set to drop to six from Monday. France no longer has an open area with Tignes last to close at the weekend. Snow packs are diminishing too with the warm summer temperatures but those now open hope to stay open through August if they can. Most are in Europe with just one remaining open in North America. Southern Hemisphere Australia Australia has had a bonzer week for snowfall with many areas posting nearly a metre in total from multiple storms, the heaviest by far at the weekend when some areas got half a metre in 36 hours. It was the biggest fall of the season to date, almost as much in fact as the rest of the season so far, allowing some excellent powder skiing this week once the storm cleared through. The main result has been centres able to open much more terrain, with the most dramatic change at Mount Buller which went from less than 5% of its terrain and just a few lifts open, to opening half-a-dozen lifts through this week. Other resorts like Thredbo are now 75% open (this time last week the largest percentage open was 45%) and the largest area Perisher has jumped to more than 90% open with nearly 60km (37 miles) of slopes open now, the most in the country and overtaking the most open at any resort in New Zealand for the first time in 2024. Falls Creek is also 90% open with its base just a few centimetres off the one-metre mark. New Zealand A fairly quiet week in New Zealand with ski areas there trying to hang on to the terrain they've managed to open; and in the best cases open more. The problem is that there hasn't been a whole lot of snowfall, just a few flurries, and rain was reported for a time on North Island ski slopes. Cardrona and Mount Hutt have the most runs open, each at 70-80% of their terrain, but Whakapapa on Mount Ruapehu, still looking for a new owner, continues to struggle with just a fraction of its terrain open so far. It's been a mostly dry week weather-wise, with temperatures in the -5 to +5C range on the whole, and there's currently not much change in the forecast unfortunately either. Argentina In contrast to Australia, Argentina has had a fairly quiet week with just light snow showers and plenty of sunshine, much the same as it has been all July after the very snowy May and June there. Most areas remain 75-100% open thanks to all that pre-season snowfall, with Catedral posting the largest area open in the world on a single pass – about 100km of slopes - available. Another Argentinian resort, Chapelco, is reporting the world's deepest accumulated snowpack at 3.3m (11 feet) up top. Chile It's been another predominantly sunny week in the Chilean Andes, a familiar pattern through July with most of the fresh snow that has fallen at more southerly centres like Nevados de Chillan. The snow that fell in May and June, leading most of the country's ski areas to open early, is still there so conditions remain excellent, with most centres fully open. Portillo is 100% open and has the deepest base in the country at about 2 metres. The linked Tres Valles area of Valle Nevado – La Parva and El Colorado equates to the largest area open anywhere on the planet at present with about 120km (75 miles) of slopes from the three centres combined, although you'll need separate passes to ski it all. Southern Africa Lesotho's Afriski continues to maintain its full mile-long main run as well as a nursery slope area and small terrain park. The normal sunny weather has dominated but overnight lows have been dropping well below freezing enabling snowmaking top-ups as required. South Africa's Tiffindell remains closed and is reported to be up for sale. Europe Tignes ended its 2024 summer ski season at the weekend, the last of the three summer ski areas still operating there to close this year, meaning there's no lift-served skiing in the French Alps now until late Autumn. That leaves four ski areas left open in the Alps, with Austria's Hintertux reporting the largest open area, with about 20km of slopes. Switzerland's Saas Fee and Zermatt have a few kilometres less and you can also ski at Passo Stelvio in Italy (Zermatt's glacier is also accessible from Cervinia in Italy). Summer temperatures have been climbing and we have seen base depths drop quite substantially on glaciers, but it is still lying several metres thick on most so we don't appear to be in imminent danger of any temporary slope closures. As always the best conditions are to be found in the 3-5 hours after dawn. In Scandinavia the Fonna glacier area says it will end its 2024 season on Sunday, at least for the skiing public (race teams can still train there after the weekend), which leaves only Scandinavia's highest slopes at Galdhopiggen open. North America It's been a mostly sunny week, again, in the Western US with temperatures getting into the 80s Fahrenheit in the valleys below the still snow-covered slopes of Oregon where North America's last operating ski centre for winter 23-24 still reports a few miles of slopes open on the Palmer snowfield that lies above Timberline on Mt Hood. It's cooler up high though still reaching the 60sF in the afternoons so best conditions are from 5 am to 11 am when you'll find race teams training alongside you. |
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Conditions pretty good right now in Perisher, Australia. Snow in Australia, while the largest open ski areas and deepest snow are in South America. The Snow Headlines - July 18th - Snowfall returns to Australia, with more forecast. - Tignes due to end their 2024 summer ski season. - Ski areas in Argentina and Chile post 100km open terrain - largest in world since early May. - Argentinian ski areas posting world's deepest snow at 3.3m (11 feet). 
More snow forecast for Australia
World Overview The southern hemisphere's key ski nations have seen a third predominantly dry week, with some great conditions where there's plenty of snow lying in South America and at quite a few resorts now in New Zealand. The weather is gradually starting to change at most ski areas though and snow showers have been reported in Australia (where they're most needed) since the weekend, with some snow at more southerly centres in Argentina and Chile too, and more on the way. In the northern hemisphere, the main challenge is thawing snowpack on the seven glacier areas still open for summer skiing in Europe; five in the Alps, and two in Norway. Fortunately, the cold and snowy spring of 2024 has left several areas with the snow 3m (10 feet) deep still, which is a healthy stat for mid-July in the era of global warming and leaves them in a stronger position as temperatures continue to rise above freezing at 3,000m and higher. One resort is still open with lift-accessed ski slopes in North America too. Southern Hemisphere Australia After more than a fortnight of predominantly dry, sunny weather Australian ski areas began to see snow falling again at the weekend and that intensified through the start of this week. With the school holidays in full swing, resorts - which have been having to discount services due to limited terrain at most areas - will be hoping there's enough snow by the weekend to be able to open more. Perisher, with all four sectors at least partially open, has the most terrain available; about a third of its total terrain represented by about 22km of slopes. Thredbo is claiming a deeper base though at half a metre (Perisher's max is 35cm) but has only a quarter (12km) of its slopes open. Falls Creek and Mount Hotham have the highest percentages of terrain open, both at around 40%. Mount Buller though only has 5%. The cold and snowier conditions are expected to continue through the weekend with another 20-30cm of snowfall expected for most areas from a major Antarctic blast at the weekend. New Zealand Although they don't appear to have had any huge snowfalls, New Zealand's ski areas seem to be in better shape, on the whole, than their Aussie neighbours so far, at least in terms of terrain open. Several centres, including Treble Cone, are fully open and a number with more terrain, including Mount Hutt and Cardrona, are past 50% open with 25km or more of runs available. Some smaller centres without snowmaking, including Temple Basin, are still yet to open - reporting they need more snowfall. Whakapapa on Mount Ruapehu still only has a few hundred metres of slopes reported open. Base depths are a little better too, where centres are open, with most posting 50-70cm lying on upper slopes. Conditions have been and should continue to be fairly settled with plenty of sunshine, and temperatures in the -4 to +4C range. It's looking increasingly likely that snow showers will bubble up though, with fronts moving up from the south. Argentina After the dry weather that's lasted nearly three weeks now, fresh snow has begun falling on Argentinian ski slopes, if nothing like the heavy snowfall that kept dumping through May and June, so far at least. Temperatures have been as low as -11C overnight up high, +8/9C at resort bases mid-afternoon. Argentina is currently home to the ski area with the most open terrain anywhere in the world (that's Catedral with more than 96km or 80% of its slopes) open. It's also home to the deepest reported snow depth at any open ski area on the planet (Chapelco – 3.4 metres – more than 11 feet). So really a very promising picture for the first full month of the season. Chile We've had another predominantly dry, often sunny week in Chile, with fabulous conditions thanks to the huge amounts of May and June snowfall, leaving deep cover across the country's ski slopes and several centres including Portillo 100% open. The Tres Valles (or the "3 Valleys of the Andes") close to Santiago, which include the slopes of Valle Nevado, La Parva and El Colorado, have more than 120km of slopes open between them - the largest area in the world right now if we're including linked areas. It hasn't been entirely dry, with snowfall reported at more southerly destinations including Nevados de Chillan. The picture across the country for the coming week is looking more unsettled with snow showers increasingly likely. Southern Africa It's been the usual sunshine week in Lesotho but Afriski Resort continues to maintain its full mile-long run, alongside its beginner slope and terrain park features. Temperatures continue to drop a few degrees below freezing overnight and climb to +8 or +9C in the daytime giving freeze-thaw conditions for the snowpack. Europe There are seven glacier areas currently open in Europe, but Tignes, now the only centre open in France, is expected to close this weekend after just under a month of summer ski operations. The weather has been predominantly good after spells of unsettled, stormy weather brought rain to high elevations in the Alps, and northerly latitudes in Scandinavia, along with strong winds and low visibility, temporarily closing some areas. Currently, Zermatt (its ski area also accessible from Cervinia), Hintertux and Saas-Fee each have the most terrain open – between about 15 and 20km each. Italy's Passo Stelvio and Norway's Fonna and Galdhopiggen areas each have about 5km of lift-accessed skiing available. North America There remains just the one centre, Timberline on Mount Hood in Oregon, that's still open in North America. There are a few miles of slopes open on the Palmer snowfield where temperatures have been in the 60s Fahrenheit this last week, with another week of mostly sunny conditions. That's the forecast for next week again too! |
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The skies cleared, at last, for Portillo, Chile, after loads of snow. Snow finally stops falling in South America, with clear and sunny weather for most of the southern hemisphere ski areas. The Snow Headlines - July 11th - Argentina's Catedral reports 96km (60 miles) of slopes open, the most in the world at present. - Switzerland's Saas Fee opens for summer skiing and the 24-25 season. - Sunny weather dominates across southern hemisphere ski regions. - France's Les 2 Alpes ends 23-24 season and Val d'Isere ends 2024 summer ski season too. - Several New Zealand ski areas reach 100% open for the first time this season. 
A little more snow in the J2Ski forecasts
World Overview After the big snowfalls in the Andes and Patagonia over the past few months, it's finally been a mostly dry, sunny week in South America. Resorts there have been able to open more terrain with the settled conditions and are now posting the largest open areas in the world at present - as well as the deepest fresh snowfall. Dry and sunny for Australia and New Zealand too, but that's more the story of the season there so far and Australian areas continue to battle to open terrain with little natural snowfall as yet. New Zealand's ski areas are in better shape with more in the 50-100% open range, compared to most with 5-40% open in Australia. In the Northern Hemisphere, it has been dry and sunny at the one open area in North America. The total number of areas open in the Alps has now dropped to five, with two small centres still open in Norway too. Southern Hemisphere Australia After the snowfall at the start of last week, sunshine has been dominating Australian weather again for much of the past fortnight. There have been some cold nights, however, allowing snowmaking to continue which in turn has allowed Aussie centres to progressively open more terrain. That said though, we are still some way off full operations and with not much fresh snowfall in the forecast - and temperatures expected to be a little warmer next week than they were last, it's not looking like there'll be a change any time soon. Most resorts are 5-25% open only. The largest Australian ski resort, Perisher, is posting the most open terrain in the country with all four sectors of the resort operating, albeit limited to about a third of the total runs. Falls Creek only has a few kilometres less skiing available, representing 40% of their slopes, whilst Mount Buller has just 5% of its runs available (less than 2 miles of terrain). New Zealand Recent snowfall and more stable weather conditions have allowed ski areas in New Zealand to open more terrain this week. Mount Dobson and Treble Cone are the first in the country to report being fully open for the 2024 season, with the latter also posting the country's deepest base, at nearly a metre. Cardrona, which has two-thirds of its runs open, has the most piste km available in the country so far, 25km of runs. Mount Hutt ( 55% open ) is not far behind on 22km, the same as Treble Cone. Conditions are still far from perfect and a number of New Zealand's smaller club fields don't yet have enough snow to open. Unfortunately, skies have been clear and temperatures climbing this week so there's no positive change expected imminently. It's getting cooler but will stay sunny for most places into next week. Argentina Argentina's ski centres are in great shape with all now at least 80% open and some at 100%. That includes the southern hemisphere's largest area, Catedral, which has hit 96km (60 miles) of open slopes, by far the most in the world at present. Snow depths are also very healthy, despite a sunny week, thanks to the big accumulations earlier in the season. Several other ski resorts are close to the 3m (10 feet) deep mark on their higher slopes, including Chapelco and Las Leñas. The latter is famed for its deep powder freeride terrain but some years fails to get any, so 2024 is looking good there so far. Sunny weather will continue into the weekend for most areas but it is looking more unsettled from Sunday/Monday with snowfall expected to return midweek. Chile It has been a predominantly dry week in Chile but all of the country's ski areas are reporting great conditions thanks to the huge snowfalls of May and June. The 'Tres Valles' area close to Santiago, where the ski areas of Valle Nevado, La Parva and El Colorado/Farellones are 80% open (with a collective total of more than 100km of slopes) is another claimant for "most terrain currently open in the world". Portillo and Villarrica are now fully open. The sunny weather is expected to continue into next week, with the longer-term forecast pointing towards a return of winter towards the middle of next week with snowfall arriving from the south. Southern Africa Lesotho's Afriski is keeping its main slope open despite temperatures climbing towards double figures above freezing in the afternoons. Overnight lows continue to dip well below freezing allowing snowmaking systems to operate as required. Mostly sunny as usual; although there was a period of cloud and light natural snowfall earlier in the week. Europe There's been more unsettled weather in the Alps this week and that's set to continue through the weekend. Along with strong wind and potential lightning strikes, there's more rain, sleet and snow in the forecast, although with the freezing point moving between 3000m and 4500m altitudes and temperatures on glaciers hardly getting below freezing, even overnight, it's looking more like rain unfortunately. Saas-Fee is now open for its 2024 ski season and, kind of, 24-25 season, as operations will continue through autumn into next winter. It joins neighbouring Zermatt, as a second Swiss option, also accessible from Cervinia on the Italian side. France has dropped from three centres open to just one, Tignes, with Les 2 Alpes and Val d'Isere ending their summer ski seasons last weekend. Hintertux in Austria and Passo Stelvio in Italy are also open, the latter seeing famous downhill racer Sofia Goggia return to ski fitness there this last week. Up in Scandinavia, where the weather has had a similar mix, Norway's Fonna and Galdhopiggen glaciers remain open with a few miles of slopes open each. North America Timberline in Oregon is the only lift-served ski area currently open in the US/North America. The Palmer Snowfield on Mount Hood there has a few miles of slopes and a terrain park open in the mornings but the snow is thawing pretty fast in the afternoons under the warm West Coast sunshine and not getting an overnight re-freeze any more. It's below 2m at the top now and dropping fast, but will hopefully make it to August as usual. Forest fires are a problem in the region too, with Mount Baldy in California to the south currently threatened. |
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Perisher, Australia, looking pretty good after 20cm of fresh this week... Almost everywhere now open in the Southern Hemisphere, with Argentina and Chile enjoying great snow. Conditions improving in Australia and New Zealand. The Snow Headlines - July 4th - Portillo last to open in Chile, but reports more snow on opening day than season average. - Les 2 Alpes and Val d'Isere expect to end summer ski seasons this weekend. - Mount Hutt first ski area in New Zealand to reach 50% of slopes only. - Saas Fee opening for summer ski season. - Deepest snow in southern hemisphere passes 3 metre (10 feet) mark. - Less than three months until the 24-25 winter season starts in Lapland. 
A little more snow in the J2Ski forecasts
World Overview July is the start of the southern hemisphere's core season with peak school holiday weeks. The good news is that all of the main ski nations have had significant snowfalls over the past week and temperatures have stayed low. The last of the big-name resorts in the Andes, Australia and New Zealand have also opened to start their seasons. The latest snowfall - about a foot (30cm) for Australia and New Zealand, their biggest falls so far in an initially dry start to the 2024 season – has been described as a 'game changer', allowing most areas with only 5-20% of their slopes open so far the chance to add more terrain. In Argentina and Chile, resorts had already passed their usual season totals as they started their winter operations, with some including recently opened las Lenas and Portillo reporting more than 6 metres fallen so far and other areas still battling to re-open access roads. So here more snowfall is not really needed (for now at least). Elsewhere, resorts in the Alps are still trying to get back to normal after storms and floods almost a month ago. Several more glacier areas in the Alps will end their summer opening this weekend, whilst Saas Fee is expected to start its 24-25 season (beginning with their summer skiing). Two small areas remain open in Norway too and it's been cold enough in northern Europe for a dusting of snowfall on Scottish peaks on Thursday morning. There's one outdoor lift-served ski area still open in North America for Independence Day this week. Southern Hemisphere Australia There was a welcome boost for Australian ski areas last weekend with the biggest snowfall of the season so far, bolstering snow depth by up to a foot. Unfortunately, as there had been so little snowfall previously, that's not been hugely transformative, but nonetheless, the amount of open terrain does continue to edge upwards. It's been mostly dry and sunny since the snow but overnight lows have allowed snow guns to continue blasting out the machine-made stuff. Perisher is leading the way with about a quarter of its slopes open now. Charlotte Pass, Australia's highest centre, is due to open this Friday after a delay caused by a fire in May. The centre says it is now fully functional and good to go. New Zealand New Zealand has seen a good snowfall too, following on just as the snow stopped falling in Australia. 20-30cm accumulations were reported on Monday through Tuesday which one ski area manager described as a "game-changer" after the fairly dry June left most ski areas in the region struggling to open more than 10-20% of their terrain and some smaller areas were forced to delay opening completely. Mount Hutt became the first centre in NZ-Australia to report half its slopes were open at the weekend and Cardrona is not far behind. Treble Cone and Turoa (now run separately to nearby Whakapapa) were among the areas opening for their 2024 seasons at the weekend. Argentina Argentina has seen some spectacular snowfalls over the past two months and is home to the first ski area in South America and the southern hemisphere to post a 3m+ base already - a stat that's not reached anywhere south of the equator in some years (and not seen for a few years recently). The major ski area of Las Lenas finally opened last weekend after a few week's delay due to too much snow and high avalanche danger, posting a 2.9m base, one of its healthiest snow depths for many years, allowing access to its extensive upper mountain freeriding terrain, which doesn't open at all in dry winters. Chile Chile has had a sensational start to the season with unprecedented snowfall totals now passing 6 metres in some areas. That's the dream start to the season in terms of snow depths but has also caused issues with blocked access roads and high avalanche danger. Portillo's opening was delayed by a week or so, but it did at the weekend with a base of nearly 3 metres and about two-thirds of its runs safely open. The linked La Parva – Valle Nevado area has the most terrain open in South America (and the world) at present, with over 50km between them. There was more snowfall at the start of this week but for most areas, it's been a drier week at last giving skiers the chance to enjoy the snow. Southern Africa Lesotho's Afriski continues to be fully open with its nearly mile-long main run, learners area and terrain park all operational. No real natural snowfall but low overnight temperatures allow snowmaking to continue. Neighbouring South Africa's Tiffindell remains closed and up for sale. Europe The Alps have taken quite a battering from storms in recent weeks, with Les 2 Alpes, Saas fee and Zermatt amongst those hardest hit. The weather has settled a little and there have been some good sunny days since the last of the dramatic conditions at the weekend. Temperatures have been yoyoing a good deal too with the snowfall line moving between 2500m and 4500m altitudes. That's resulted in some centres posting a big drop in their snow depths ...but also more light snowfalls at other times topping things up a few centimetres. In this mixed picture, two of the open French glaciers, Les 2 Alpes and Val d'Isere, are expected to end their summer ski seasons this weekend leaving Tignes the only area open there. In Austria, year-round Hintertux is currently the only centre open, with about 20km of slopes open. The glacier above Zermatt, which can also be accessed from Cervinia, remains open with its neighbour Saas Fee expected to open for its 2024 summer ski season (which then morphs into autumn and winter seasons so its kind of its 24-25 season start). Finally, Italy's Passo Stelvio also remains open with about 5km of slopes available. North America Timberline ski area on Mount Hood in Oregon is now the only lift-served centre operational in North America (outdoors at least, there is an indoor snow centre in New Jersey!). Usually open into August, sometimes to early September, it's had warm sunny weather leading to a fast thaw of the snowpack but it's still reported to be around 3m (10 feet) deep up top. There are a few miles of slopes and a terrain park, best conditions soon after dawn. There is also a hike-to terrain park operating primarily for those attending private summer snow camps at Copper Mountain in Colorado, but it's open to all from Fridays to Sundays each week. |
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