The last Genoa-low of SNOWvember 2019?

The last Genoa-low of SNOWvember 2019?

And there’s snow in the forecast for the south side of the Alps again. A storm settles in the Gulf of Genoa (hence the Genoa-low) on Friday resulting in a return d’est. It is yet another storm on the southern side of the Alps this SNOWvember, adding even more snow to this already exceptional month. Whether this is also the last snow for the southern Alps is not entirely certain. The jet stream will become more west next week, although a mild southwestern current is certainly not excluded. In this forecast:

  • An exceptional SNOWvember
  • Another Genoa-low
  • Föhn in the north
  • Milder temperatures next week
St. Moritz this morning
St. Moritz this morning

An exceptional SNOWvember

We are dealing with a very exceptional SNOWvember month. Storm depressions for the southern side of the Alps may be typical for November, but the intensity of the storms is certainly unique. The entire southern side of the Alps is full of snow, regularly deep into the valleys and even far beyond the main alpine ridge.

Another Genoa-low

And SNOWvember 2019 is not over yet. A Genoa-low is calculated for the coming weekend. Again. This time mainly with snow for the south side of the western Alps.

This results in a lot of snow in particular on Friday and Saturday. With a southeastern current, very moist air is pressed against the Piedmont and forced to rise quickly there. The result is another meter of snow for those areas. The snow map below shows that nicely.

Especially the Italian Piedmont, or the Italian side of the western main alpine ridge gets a lot of snow, but also the border areas of the French Southern Alps and the Monte Rosa can expect snow. The snow line is between 1200 and 1700 meters, but drops locally due to cold air in the valleys and orographic cooling to below 1000 meters.

Föhn in the north

Because of the southeastern current, there’s no snow falling in the Dolomites this time. And that certainly applies to the areas north of the main alpine ridge. They are confronted with a heavy Föhn and high temperatures in Austria and Switzerland on Saturday. The temperature in the typical Föhn valleys will rise considerably, locally to above 15 degrees.

Milder temperatures next week

Next week will clearly be milder. The current is more west to southwest so that the supply of really cold air is cut off and no longer finds its way to the Alps.

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Stay stoked,
Morris

meteomorris

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magicpeachAuthor21 November 2019 · 12:44

Saturday looks very windy, I guess the high ski lift in andermatt/zermatt/saasfee will most likely get closed?
Sunday looks much better.

you are progressing on something, that's all about
Expert
meteomorrisAuthor21 November 2019 · 13:48

@@magicpeach I agree. Be aware that it will quickly get milder as of Saturday afternoon. This will affect the snowpack stability. Check you local avalanche bulletin!

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