A glimpse of Spring before Winter returns to The Alps, and still snowy in America...
J2Skier Wanderer sent us this great shot of The Dolomites this week
This Week's Snow Headlines
- Pyrenees continue to post some of the best snow depths in Europe.
- Mammoth inches closer to 9m/30 foot snow depth.
- Warm and wet at some lower elevation ski areas in the Alps but fresh snow forecast.
- More big snowfalls in Western North America
- Up to 50cm of fresh snow in Scandinavia.
- Davos gets more than a foot of fresh snow.
It has not been a week to remember for snow lovers in Europe with little fresh snow and 'spring like' conditions on lower slopes reported, with rain at times. With no fresh snow for several weeks now in many areas there's very little off-piste skiing left and even the groomed pistes have been looking a little 'tired' at lower elevations.
There will be a bit of a freshen up this weekend, however, with new snow currently forecast at most areas for Friday/Saturday.
It's a slightly better picture in Scandinavia which has seen the most fresh snow this week. Scotland remains pretty well snowless with all areas closed after more very warm weather. The Pyrenees down in the south in contrast continue to have some of the deepest snow in Europe.
But North America still has the best snow depths although once again here there's been so much snow in the last 48 hours that several ski centres in the West of the continent have again closed down until they can be sure of safe operations.
In the Forecast
Things are set to improve in Europe, with useful snowfall (10-20cm) expected across a wide area tomorrow. This will be preceded by a significant drop in temperature so it will feel much colder than recent days, and will bring snow to the valley floor in many places. Northern French Alps are looking particularly good at this point.
Late in the weekend, temperatures will again rise but only for a few days before what is looking like quite a major snowstorm rolls in.
Although it's on the edge of the reliable timeframe, the forecast models are building support, and several days of heavy snow - and a return to cold - are looking likely for much of the Alpine area from Tuesday next week.
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The Alps
Austria
It has been a little more unsettled in Austria over the past week than the previous dry sunny weather, but whilst there has been some fresh snow it has also been warm with 'spring' conditions at times. St Johann in Tirol, for example, posted a powder alarm for 20cm of fresh snow at the weekend, one of the biggest snowfalls in Austria this month, but the snow was very sticky below 1500m there on Monday and on Tuesday it was raining on lower slopes. Generally though, across Austria, there has been 10-30cm of fresh snow this past week and on piste conditions vary between rather slushy at lower elevations and perfectly good on higher slopes. The coming week looks to be cooler with possibly larger snowfalls.
France
It has been another largely dry week on French ski slopes. The result is that pistes are now very hard packed and could do with fresh snow to freshen them up. Off piste there is no real fresh snow to be found. The good news – hopefully – is that we do expect a change this coming week with lower temperatures and some snowfall from the weekend onwards. The lack of snow in February means lower slope bases are starting to get rather thin at some lower elevation resorts such as Samoens, Morzine and Plagne Montalbert, although they are still reporting 15-30cm at resort level. Higher up the snow depths are mostly above 1m, but still some fresh snow would definitely greatly improve things.
Italy
Italy has had a dry week too with expected small snowfalls failing to materialise. The next hoped for 'snow days' are around Friday/Saturday this week. The lack of new snow means that lower runs in the dolomites are again machine made cover on green/brown mountainsides and base depths sadly remain marginal – in the 15-30cm bracket at many areas in the region. The Italian Alps continue to look much better with bases in the West of the country up to 2m deep on upper slopes but even here more fresh snow would be welcome as there's no real off piste skiing possible except on crud.
Switzerland
A really mixed picture in Switzerland with Davos reporting the biggest snowfall this past week in the Alps – 38cm – but many other swiss resorts receiving no new snow are reporting the same 'spring-like conditions' that have plagued other areas this week. Laax, Jungfrau resorts Grindelwald and Wengen and Engelberg also reported 15-25cm of fresh snow but there was little or nothing across the rest of the country. Most swiss resorts have 20-40cm bases on lower runs, 1-2m on upper slopes. Surprisingly perhaps Zermatt (with the continent's highest slopes, open year round) has one of the thinnest bases on their lower slopes – just 3cm, although there's a healthy 1.4m up on the glacier. Switzerland is expected to get large snowfalls this week if forecasts prove correct with many areas getting several feet of fresh snow (potentially!).
Scandinavia
There's been some sizable snowfalls in Scandinavia over the past few days after a largely dry February. Bases in Norway at most areas are getting closer to the 'normal' 70-90cm after the falls which included 30cm at Voss and 50cm at less well known Roldal, the biggest fall reported in Europe this week. However Hemsedal, the country's biggest area, continues to struggle with only a 15cm base; it reports 5cm of snow this week. There was 5-10cm of snow in Sweden where the base at Are, Scandinavia's largest resort is a 'normal' 70cm. In Lapland its 50-60cm with no fresh snow reported but again that's an average base stat.
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees seem to be cementing their position as having the best snow depths in Europe this winter. In Andorra upper slope depths are typically 1.5-2m and on the French and Spanish side 2-2.5m on upper runs. Few ski areas in the alps have more than 2m snow depths this winter and those that do are largely high altitude glacier resorts. Resort base depths in the Pyrenees are 1m+ too. There's not been any fresh snow this past week but more falls are expected next.
Eastern Europe
There's been little or no fresh snow reported in Eastern Europe this week but bases remain good at most leading destinations at 50-150cm. Bulgarian resorts Bansko and Borovets – at the upper end of those stats – are in particularly good shape from previous snowfalls.
Scotland
No sign of any respite to Scotland's worst season for many years. All five areas are currently closed with little or no snow remaining after double digit temperatures at the start of this week, so re-opening will need a significant snowfall, and sadly there's nothing that significant currently forecast.
North America
Canada
Another snowy week in Canada with most resorts from East to West coasts receiving 10-30cm of snow, in BC that was more like 30-60cm. Red Mountain got the 60cm, Whistler, 35cm. Base depths are very good across the country too, with resorts in the west typically posting 2-3m lying, although Mont Ste Anne in Quebec still says it has the deepest base at 4 metres.
USA
There have been more big snowfalls in the Western US after a brief lull, with resorts in California, Utah and Wyoming posting 20-40cm overnight snowfalls on several days in the past week. Heavenly and Mammoth in California both report more than 1.2m/4 feet of snow in the last 7 days and Mammoth's base is tantalisingly close to the 9m /30 feet mark at 891cm/29.2 feet. More big snowfalls are expected but it's not being universally welcomed as resorts like Homewood and Jackson Hole have again been forced to close for periods in order to make ski areas safe. It has kept snowing on the East too with 30-40cm reported in parts of Vermont once again. It's not universally good news in the US though, between the snowy East and West the more southerly, central states have had unseasonably warm conditions all winter with little snowfall and one – Ober Gatlingburg in Tennessee has already announced its giving up the ghost on winter 2016-17 and moving to summer operations.