Alps forecast: 22 Dec

22nd December 2010, by Fraser Wilkin

Forecast for noon on Friday 24 December [(c) Meteoblue - with permission]

General situation

With the winds now in the south, it has turned much milder across the Alps. However, the cold will be back by Friday, with most places seeing plenty of fresh snow in time for Christmas.

Austria

Wednesday and Thursday will be cloudy in the southern Austrian Alps with periods of rain (or snow above 1500m). Away from the south, under the influence of the Foehn wind, it will be drier with some brighter spells. It will become colder on Friday with snow spreading to all areas.

France

Wednesday will be mostly cloudy with a little rain across the far northern Alps (snow above 2000m) and far southern Alps (snow above 1600m) but largely dry in between. On Thursday, rain (snow above1800m) will be confined to southern resorts at first, spreading elsewhere on Thursday night when it will also start to turn colder. On Friday the snow will die out across the southern Alps but will continue to low levels (500m) further north with significant accumulations in places.

Italy

All Italian resorts will be cloudy on Wednesday with outbreaks of rain or snow. The rain/snow limit will be low everywhere at first, but will then rise to 1400m or higher later in the Dolomites, staying below 1000m in the western Italian Alps. Similar weather is expected on Thursday with heavy snow above 1600m in the Dolomites, and lower further west. It will turn colder on Friday with snow petering out in the western resorts but continuing to fall at increasingly low levels further east.

Switzerland

Southern Swiss resorts will be cloudy on Wednesday with a few early showers and more significant precipitation late in the day. The rain/snow threshold will rise from 800 to 1400m. Further north it will be mostly dry, if rather cloudy and milder than of late. Thursday will see little change in the weather with most of the precipitation in the far south where it will snow heavily above 1500-1800m. The winds will start to switch to the north on Friday heralding more widespread snow and plummeting temperatures.

Outlook

The outlook is uncertain but a north-easterly airflow is likely to develop over the weekend, which will keep things cold with further snow in places.

Forecasts in association with ski travel agency Ski Solutions

Main picture: shows the forecast precipitation for Friday 24 December 2010 at approx midday.

copyright Meteoblue

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