I’ve been looking around a bit to see what’s been happening in terms of snowfall in the alps and it seems that absolutely no snow has fallen at all anywhere, neither is it forecast at all in the next week. It seems that, as usual, the Americans are already way ahead with their snowfall and it is starting to worry me as we go in mid-December,which isn’t long now, hope some snow falls soon…

Having been excited in the past by November snowfalls only to see it all melt away I don’t even start thinking about snow until early December.

John

agreed, its looing very green out there right now, we go to Ste Foy 16/12, which is still a fair way off but even still, i m a tad nervous…...........although it only really takes one decent dump and some pro longed cold for the artificial to be produced

agreed John, We’re in Montgenevre from the 16th December and what happens now is not really that important, its the temperatures that are important.  I’ve been the same date last couple of years and whats here today can be gone tommorrow with too high temperatures.  The temps have been falling over the last couple of weeks and are now at snow making levels.  Most resorts won’t start making though until a few days before their season starts which for many is aroud the weekend of the 3rd and 4th Dec.  As long as your resort is high and has good snowmaking down to the village level then it’ll all be fine.  Plenty of time yet for a good natural dump also.

Adrian

Hi,

Do not despair….I am informed by secret correspondance that there will be major snow storms across the Alps towards the end of this month and through to around the 10th of December then again just before Xmas and continuing into the New Year…..

.....have faith…..fail in that I will be sacrificing my last werthers Original and having a few glasses of Ardbeg to appease the snow gods.

Hi Jon

Who are these secret informants ???..............those snow stroms would be perfectly timed for my trip

colinchap - 22 November 2011 09:03 AM

Hi Jon

Who are these secret informants ???..............those snow stroms would be perfectly timed for my trip

Hi,

Just a chap who’s an amateur meteorologist I have some email contact with from another site, also I tend to shy away from the Met Office ( as they are not shall we say neutral in predicting and forecasting the weather due to where their pension’s are invested in etc ), the two main people’s forecast’s I give/have any faith in are Piers Corbyn and the American meteorologist Joe Bastardi.

Corbyn’s and Bastardi’s long range predictions are above 75% correct against the Met’s ( was about 45% but since the last three winters and the Bar-B-Q summers that never happened the Met office refuse to give any long range predictions anymore ).

The predictions by the three above all give the same winter weather more or less , more cold and intense cold than last year , with prolonged snowfall, also James Madden at Exacta Weather is pretty reliable too. all around the globe in both Northern and Southern Hemisphere’s all areas have experienced record cold and record snowfall year on year for the last three years…..which never seems to get mentioned in the main stream media.

jon.

I hope you/they are right…......the forecast for Tignes at 2100m is 11 degrees….........down in Ste Foy at 1500m it must feel tropical,  people wandering around in shorts and tee shirts!!!!!!!!!!<s>

Still 4 weeks to go so much can happen…....and needs to

fingers crossed

Hi,

Good news may be on the horizon, I’ve just noticed on both snowforecast and J2ski’s websites that snow is forecast for next Wednesday the 30th and the 1st and 2nd of Dec in the Southern French Alps.  Still time for the forecast to change as I’ve experienced many times in the past, but I’ve also found over recent years both sites are pretty reliable.

Adrian

yes seems to be some buzz about some heavy snowfall from blogs indicating 2nd to 7th will see storms and heavy snowfall, according to the long range forecasts as the high pressure finally gives way. Still a long way off but will hang to the hope but not counting any chickens until I see it on the webcams!!!!!!!!!!

Agreed Colin, at least theres some talk of snow though, last year we arrived 17th Dec and couldn’t even get up the first three bends of the mountain, we had to abandon our little hire car in the valley at about 800m and get someone to drive down with proper four wheel drive and heavy snow tyres to bring us into resort, skiing conditions were amazing though.  We’re driving from UK this year though so knowing our luck France will be awash with snow from Calais to Grenoble, Just watch I bet it all comes at once.

Adrian

we drive down Thursday the 15th, so hopefully all the snow will have arrived and been cleared by then…...although the Range Rover can cope with it, i d rather not need it to

Well it looks like that on Thursday in the French alps up to 25cm of snow will fall above 2500m. In the day it will be rain down the bottom, however this will turn into snow as temperatures decrease over night. It’s not fantastic but it’ll do at the moment I think. Also, more snow on Friday with temperatures dropping as low as -14 degrees at the top and -6 at the bottom. A steady improvement.

according to snow-forecast.com we have 46cms in Ste Foy across the next 9 days…......how accurate it is though is another matter.

but for now i ll cling to any hope

Hi Everyone,

As predicted earlier on in the thread the snow has arrived….

http://www.webcam-ski.com/interfaces/les-arcs-peisey/interface.php?pk_interface=259&m=images&r=panoramique#depart

So May thanks to the forecasters whom predicted this messr’s Piers , Joe, Richard and James.

Piers Corbyn , Joe Bastardi and James Madden are Professional Meteorologists , while Richard is an amateur but all out forecast those at the Met Office for long range forecasts ( the Met Office no longer give long range because they are useless basically as they are politically driven ).

So bring on the ice age and here’s to an enjoyable and safe season ahead to all.

jon.

yes although still quite warm, rain up to about 1800m from the webcams…..hopefully more next week