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Snow snippets: 15 February

14th February 2012, by Chris Gill

Damüls, Austria

As an update to our main snow overview, there is good news if you have been finding the cold snap a bit much to bear in Europe. Things are set to warm up to sensible mid-February temperatures for the next few days. What’s more, Switzerland and Austria in particular are expecting further snowfalls – some of it heavy. This is welcome news after a busy half-term week, and with far more visitors on the slopes now.

It was snowing in Austria on Tuesday 14 February; St Anton reported 3-5cm of new snow and a better temperature of minus 5 degrees at resort level. By Wednesday morning this had become 15-20cm new snow on the mountain. Many parts are now overcast, with strengthening winds at altitude. The Sölden glacier lifts are closed on Wednesday, stormbound.

Snowfall is due to increase by mid-week, with forecasts predicting as much as 50cm in places, followed by a ridge of high pressure. But further snowfall is expected by the weekend. It is the northern Alps that are likely to be most affected by the new weather fronts, with it crossing much of Austria (except the far south). Winds are due to increase to moderate-strong north-westerlies too.

It is cloudy with light snowfall across parts of north-eastern France on Wednesday – 5-10cm has so far been reported in La Clusaz, which has an astonishing 330cm upper base depth at 2350m. Just over the border in Switzerland, Verbier is reporting brighter skies, with just a dusting of fresh snow at altitude. It’s brighter with patchy cloud further south in Italy; the snowfall has not reached the Aosta Valley just yet but there has been a dusting of new snow in Lombardy – Livigno (54/100cm) reports 3-5cm so far. 

There is good news from the USA too: snow has returned to the western states after a somewhat challenging winter so far. New snow has fallen in California, where Heavenly reports 15-20cm in the past week. Mammoth clocked 25cm, with more to come on Wednesday; but the outlook is for drier weather to follow again.

After several weeks of mostly mild weather, the weekend will finally feel like winter over most of the USA east of the Rockies; but it will be short-lived – a return to milder weather is expected next week. Snow is also forecast for parts of Utah and Colorado on Sunday. We’ll bring you more in our full overview at the end of the week.

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