View from Pic du Midi, French Pyrenees this morning
This Week's Snow Headlines
- This month's snowfall in California breaks all-time records
- More heavy snow in the French Pyrenees.
- Alps back to cold and sunny.
- Still not enough snow for Scottish areas to open for season.
- Big snowfalls in Japan.
- Up to two feet/60cm of snow this week in Bulgaria.
- Dolomites still needing fresh natural snow but snowmaking means most runs are open.
- A foot of snow expected in Sierra Nevada by Friday.
It has been a dry, sunny and often very cold (-20C not unusual in the Alps) week in much of Europe and it looks to be similar, warming a little, for the week ahead. But not all of Europe has been fresh-snowless with the Pyrenees reporting more significant snowfalls in the past few days.
Most major resorts now have healthy bases right down to resort level after all the snow in the first three weeks of January so skiers have been able to enjoy the on-piste conditions. However it's not good across the entire continent as Scottish areas remain closed with temperatures in the Highlands far warmer than southern England this week. The Dolomites also lack fresh snow although most runs are open in the region thanks to the ongoing huge snowmaking effort.
Across the Atlantic it is a different tale with resorts in California in particular setting new all-time monthly snowfall records whilst there was still more than a week of January left. The road-and-resort closing snowfall stats are astronomical - in some cases more than 6 metres/20 feet in three weeks. Most other areas of North America are in good shape too, if not quite so deluged with snow.
In the Forecast
Generally milder weather for the European Alps this next week, with temperatures a little higher than January averages in the East and closer to normal elsewhere. Looking generally dry to the East, but with some reasonable falls of snow possible in the Pyrenees and Western Alps toward the end of the coming weekend.
Looking further ahead, the forecast models continue to tease us with the possibilities of unsettled (snowy!) weather pushing into The Alps in early February but that's still a little outside the reliable timeframe of the forecasts so we'll give you the latest on that next week - but we'll keep our fingers crossed, and you should do your favorite snow dance!
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The Alps
Austria
It has been a dry and sunny week in most of Austria with little or no fresh snow reported after the snowy first half of the month. The situation may change in the coming week with indications of some more fresh snow by this time next week, but so far it appears that it won't amount to more than a few inches, if anything. The earlier January snowfalls do have Austrian slopes in fairly good shape however, with all of the country's leading resorts now reporting the top to bottom cover that some lacked (at the bottom) in December. Many have at least a 30cm base in resort and plenty 60-90cm. Surprisingly perhaps the little ski area at St Wolfgang, one of the lower Austrian ski centres, claims one of the deepest resort-level snow bases of 1.2m (four feet). More than half of Austrian areas now have 1m or more of snow up top and almost all those that don't have at least 60cm so it's looking good across the country. Of the leading resorts only Bad Kleinkirchheim in the south east still reports a thin base of 10-15cm.
France
It has been another week of mostly blue skies and low temperatures in the French Alps, similar to Austria and indeed the rest of the region, allowing skiers to enjoy the accumulated January snow. It's not the case across France however as the Pyrenees down in the south have continued to see more big snowfalls after last week's dumps so are reported to be powder central at present. Indeed the deepest snow base in France is now reported to be at Cauterets in the Pyrenees with 3m/10 feet of snow on upper runs and 1.2m/4 feet in resort. But snow depths across the French Alps are pretty good too, most resorts with at least 50cm lying at resort level and quite a few with over a metre whilst on higher runs the majority of resorts have at least a metre of snow lying and some more than 2m, so generally conditions are starting to look good for at the least the next month, barring some unseasonal sustained thaw horror, and there's not one forecast. There's not much fresh snow forecast either though, although there may be the odd centimetre here and there and we may start to see a change at the weekend but it's a bit too far off to be certain yet.
Italy
It's much the same in Italy, the Alpine region to the West is in good shape after regular snowfalls. The less happy news from the Dolomites continues with little or no fresh snow this week, again, and little or none in the forecast. Instead its cold and sunny so the snowmaking guns keep working. So there's a big East/West divide – 10cm at Alta Badia in the Dolomites to the east, 2m at Pila in the Aosta Valley to the west.
Italy's biggest snowfalls of 2017 have been in the south of the country where there are a few domestic ski hills down towards Rome in the mountains northwest of the city. This snow - combined with the awful coincidence of earthquakes - led to the much publicised tragedy last weekend.
Switzerland
It's a similar picture in Switzerland with no fresh snow, not really much in the forecast, and low temperatures with blue skies expected for the week ahead. So once again, on piste great, any off piste snow is now largely skied out. Bases are not quite so varied as in its neighbouring ski countries, Wengen has the smallest base at 45cm up top, Laax the biggest at 175cm, everywhere else is somewhere in between with the majority over 1m. Down in the villages the base does seem to be thawing a little despite the low temperatures with most areas having 29-40cm down in resort.
Scandinavia
It has been a fairly dry week in Scandinavia with just a few centimetres of snowfall reported, mostly in the east of the region in Finland and Sweden. Bases remain pretty good across Scandinavia with most resorts in the 50-80cm bracket. Hemsedal has the thinnest base of the bigger areas with 35cm (a foot) of cover.
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees are in great shape after the heavy snow last week which has continued this, particularly on the French side. In Andorra most areas have around 1m in resort and nearly double that on the top of the mountains with powder conditions still in play. Cauterets in France has the deepest snow base in the region as mentioned above at nearly 3m. Sierra Nevada in southern Spain looks set to get the most snow in the continent over the next 72 hours – about 30cm over Thursday/Friday - so it could be a good weekend to plan a quick trip there if the weather clears on Saturday.
Eastern Europe
It has been one of the snowiest weeks for a while in Bulgaria with resorts posting up to 60cm (two feet) of snow in the last week (Borovets) although much of that was before the weekend. Bases there look very healthy at around 1.5m. Conditions are generally good across the rest of eastern Europe but elsewhere there's been little fresh snow reported in the past week.
Scotland
Scotland's terrible ski season continues with all five centres still closed (except for dry slope skiing at several). Temperatures are back to double digits (it has been far warmer in the north of Scotland than the south of England this last week) and though a little snowfall seems likely in the coming week it currently looks unlikely to be enough.
North America
Canada
Great conditions across Canada with low temperatures, healthy bases and more snow. The biggest falls have inevitably been in the West where whistler has had three feet (90cm) of fresh snow in the last seven days and most other areas have posted 1-2 feet/30-60cm. There's been a few centimetres more in Quebec too where Mont Ste Anne continues to report the deepest snow in the country at 303cm (10 feet, 1 inch-ish).
USA
As mentioned at the start of this report, incredible conditions in Western USA – in terms of the volume of snow, perhaps not so incredible if you'd like a bit of sunshine and a smooth groomed run. Several resorts have had another 2m/6 feet + of snow this week but that is of course the same as the previous two weeks. Mammoth still tops the tables with an incredible 7.4m (over 16 feet) of snow now lying at the top of the mountain. In other states snowbird in Utah has had 1.4m of snow, Telluride in Colorado 90cm – you get the picture. It's even quite good in the east still with another foot of snow this week for resorts like Killington in Vermont. There are signs that the end is finally nigh however in the near two-month long snowy deluge out West, with much smaller snowfall forecast for the coming week.