Norefjell-Skisenter, Norway, where it's cold and snowy...
Unusually mild in the Alps, pending a change in the weather. Storms in Scandinavia and snow inbound for the USA, Canada and Japan.
The Snow Headlines - February 1st
- Warm "springlike" sunny weather ends January and starts February in the Alps.
- Weekend World Cups at Chamonix and Garmisch cancelled due to warm temperatures.
- Scottish centres suffer snow loss as warm temps end more than a week of gales.
- Colorado's Keystone announces all 140 runs open for the first time this season.
- Pyrenees continue to battle warm, sunny weather.
- Norwegian ski areas closed for several days as most violent storm in 30 years hits.
Snow forecast for Scandinavia, California and Japan
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World Overview
We were reporting "Springlike" conditions for the end of January in the Alps last week and unfortunately, though there has been some snowfall up high in the central and eastern Alps in recent days, not much has changed for the first week of February. We're seeing +10C reached most afternoons at valley levels around 1000m, and the freezing point getting up above 3,000m.
The good news is that that's not too much of a problem yet unless you're searching off-piste powder, as most higher slopes have deep snow cover and the main resorts maintain valley runs with 30-60cm of snow too, so there's not much change in what's open – which is everything pretty much still. It's just hardpacked up high, wet and sticky down low by lunchtime.
There are solid signs of change in the forecast but we'll have more on that next week.
The Pyrenees have the same issue but worse, whilst Eastern Europe has actually been colder than the Alps in recent days, even though Bulgaria is much further south.
In Scotland and Scandinavia, gales have been the dominant factor of the past week, frequently closing centres.
In North America, it was a quieter week across much of the continent with mostly small accumulations of snow reported, but the past few days have seen a major storm arrive off the Pacific coast which looks set in for much of the week ahead in the west.
Europe
Austria
Austrian ski areas have seen lots of sunny, dry, warm, weather this week. That's typically not good news for snow cover, but in truth, there's little change in the stats so far. Lower base depths have dropped but Austrian resorts are well-prepared for that and have piled snow on lower runs through the colder Autumn to keep valley runs complete.
There has also been some snowfall reported up high and upper base depths, if anything, are up a few centimetres.
So most Austrian slopes remain open and pleasant to ski before it gets a bit sticky late in the afternoon. The forecast is for continuing sunshine through the weekend and into next week; 10C+ at 1,000m in the afternoons.
France
French ski areas have faced another week of warm weather and unfortunately, another is coming up with the freezing point expected to continue to rise up to 2000-3000m or higher in the daytime while low-lying resorts see 10C or even more in the afternoon.
Despite the "warm for January" conditions, there's a decent base of snow lying above 1800m in the French Alps – around 1-4 metres thick, so even with these temperatures the thaw is slow and we're not seeing a rapid drop in open terrain as yet; most centres remain 90% or more open.
High pressure is likely to continue into next week, but the forecast thereafter is starting to look colder.
Italy
Italy has been enjoying the same sunny weather as the rest of central Europe for much of the past week, although some snowfall was reported up high in and around Trentino midweek.
The Dolomites continue to post quite a thin base – typically 30-60cm – but most of the region's ski slopes are open, albeit with hard-packed snow.
Kronplatz and Cortina d'Amprezzo have both successfully staged World Cup racing this week while Chamonix and Garmisch in France and Germany have had to call theirs off.
The deepest snowpack in the country is up in the northwest where it's 11 feet deep up high at La Thuile. Cervinia and the Milky Way (Via Lattea) cross-border regions are both posting the most slopes open, each at just under 300km.
Switzerland
Swiss ski areas continue to be, mostly, 90% or more open but they've had the same issue of temperatures reaching double digits above freezing in lower valleys for a second week, and the coming first week of February isn't looking much different either.
Snow depths are such that most runs remain open. The 4 Valleys is posting the most terrain open at nearly 400km with over 95% of their runs available.
Laax has the deepest snow in the country up on its glacier at 12 feet.
Scandinavia
The big issue for Scandinavian ski centres this week has been the violent gales which began arriving late Wednesday leading to many centres saying they'll be closed at least through Saturday. Up to 180 kmph (110 mph) winds were reported on Thursday with Western Norway hardest hit but severe weather warnings are also in place for parts of Sweden. T
he storm is reported to be the most violent to hit Scandinavia in more than three decades. Other than that... Scandinavian centres are in the best shape in Europe really, with sub-zero temperatures keeping the snow in good shape, base depths up to 2 metres now (healthy for these latitudes) and 90%+ of slopes open.
Pyrenees
Unfortunately, there's still not much good news to report from the Pyrenees. After the snowfall earlier in January most centres have at least some slopes open but several weeks of very warm, mostly sunny weather with still more forecast into next week continues to challenge resorts to be able to open lower-lying terrain.
The region's biggest ski area around Pas de la Casa and Soldeu has about half its runs open and everything feels more like early April than the start of February.
Scotland
Scotland finally saw a few clear, still, sunny days to start this week before gales, which had dominated for more than a week previously, returned on Wednesday. Unfortunately, temperatures have warmed up too, so the thin snow cover on lower mountain areas has suffered, although there's been more snow up high, good news for tourers.
The big picture is that we're really back to the nursery slopes maintained by all-weather snowmaking machines at Glencoe, Glenshee, The Lecht and Cairngorm, with some other limited terrain available still at several centres.
Eastern Europe
There's been a little fresh snowfall up high across Eastern Europe and reported temperatures have actually been a few degrees cooler than the Alps although there are similar issues of difficulties maintaining snow cover in low valleys.
Bansko reports its home run open and is up to about 75% of its slopes open, while fellow Bulgarian resort Borovets and Jasna up in Slovakia are nearer 95% open.
North America
Canada
Conditions are about the best they've been all winter across Canada.
There's not been much fresh snowfall this week but there has been some and we seem to have passed a tipping point when almost all runs can open. The change is perhaps most marked in the East where even a few weeks ago some areas had been struggling to open half their runs, but now almost all have 75% or more of their slopes open, and Tremblant is up at 99%.
In the West, there has been a worry of rain at low levels with temperatures creeping up but so far it has stayed away.
USA
It has been a fairly calm week, for January, across much of the US.
That's starting to change now though with a major multi-day storm expected to bring several feet of snowfall beginning in the far western US and set to move towards the Rockies as the weekend approaches.
In the meantime, February begins with US ski areas in a much better place than they were at the start of January, with most of the country's slopes open.
In the east, which had had a particularly poor November and December with warm temperatures and too often rain rather than snow, several ski areas have posted their best January snowfall totals in over a decade. Some are still only half open and catching up but others like the biggest, Killington, reports over 90% of its slopes open now even though bases remain thin.