Winter is back in the Alps

15th March 2013, by Abi Butcher

The Ski Lodge Engelberg posted this pic — 28cm of snow in 48hr

Scanning down our twitter feed, all we can see is “powder, bluebird, fresh tracks, snow”. After a couple of weeks of sunshine, cold weather has hit the Alps this week and it’s been snowing. The sun is out today, after a bad couple of days — we had reports of skiers from Verbier to Courchevel to Morzine experiencing almost zero disability as fresh now fell, and opting for long lunches on Wednesday and Thursday.

In Austria, after the warmth, the fresh snow is welcome but temperatures in Sölden are currently down to -17c, and about 10cm has fallen in Lech – with more expected over the coming week. Skiers in Zell am See are reporting a perfect bluebird day today.

Italy hasn’t escaped the cold weather and welcome snowfall – the majority in the eastern areas of the Dolomites. Cortina has 20cm of fresh snow, and Cervinia is enjoying great conditions by all accounts, with 55cm on lower slopes and an upper depth of 260cm.

Lots of powder tweets from France, where cold conditions prevail. Morzine-Avoriaz has over 240cm of snow at 1800m and 300cm on the upper slopes and skiers in Tignes are enjoying depth of 150cm in the resort and 350cm on the upper slopes. Snow is forecast to fall all over the French Alps this weekend and early next week – with up to 50cm expected in most areas. Val Thorens is looking out for 9-11cm on Monday. Temperatures will stay low at the start of the week, picking up towards the weekend.

In Zermatt today our friendly mountain rescue guide informs us that it’s currently -24c. It’s currently -15c in Andermatt, which has had 5cm of fresh snow overnight. Elsewhere in Switzerland the snow has been falling – with more predicted next week, particularly in the more western resorts of Klosters, Arosa and Flims. Engelberg has had 28cm in the past two days.

In Canada, Lake Louise has had a metre of snow so far this month and it’s still falling. In Fernie, Editor Watts reported hard-parked powder conditions at the beginning of the week that are still “excellent”. A powder alert has been issued in Sunshine Village, with 13cm falling in the past 24 hours. Revelstoke says “11cm and counting” while in the USA, Breckenridge has enjoyed a 20cm dump. Vermont has had a dusting of fresh snow after a week of sunshine — 10cm has fallen in the past 24 hours in Killington and Smugglers Notch, 15cm in Sugarbush.

In Scandinavia, Norway is coming into its own with masses of snow, long ski days – Trysil has 110cm of snow in the resort and 160 on the upper slopes, while Geilo has 120cm in the resort and 170cm on the upper slopes. In Sweden, temperatures are still low and more snow is expected next week.

Higher temperatures are expected in Andorra next week, where snow this week has improved conditions, with 150cm of snow at resort level in Soldeu and 240cm on the upper slopes.

And if you’re heading for Scotland, there’s powder there, too, with 8-10cm on Cairngorm Mountain and Lecht reporting good snow cover on all runs.

Back to all snow features