Have you ever been to Sestrière or Macugnaga? Have you ever heard of San Domenico, Crissolo or Prali? Or have you ever been to Paganella or St. Martino di Castrozza in the Dolomites? That will be the places to visit this weekend. Until then…the northern parts of the Salzburgerland and Steiermark, because they’ll have some snowfall from Tuesday afternoon till Wednesday afternoon.
Everything is pretty much tracked in the French Alps and you’ll have to go touring to ride some powder. Same story for the western part of Switzerland. Some snow (around 5-10 centimeters) will fall in the other regions of Switzerland, but with a very cold wind it’s not going to be a real treat. It’s better to head east the next two days or to be in the southern Alps by Friday. Freshies, less wind and powder on Saturday.
Short term
A low pressure area is moving towards the northern Alps and this will result in snow the next 24 hours (till Wednesday afternoon). Especially the northern stau regions in the Steiermark and the Salzburgerland can expect around 20-35 centimeters, the other regions in the northern Alps can expect 5-15 centimeters of freshies. You can ride powder from Wednesday afternoon, but mind the rising avalanche danger! The combination of fresh snow and strong winds will result in nasty situation in the snowcover, especially above the treeline.
First clouds are moving in
Powder advice
• Wednesday and Thursday: First chair in the northstau regions of the Salzburgerland, Steiermark and Niederösterreich. Resorts like Hochkar, Hinterstoder, Tauplitz. Loser, Krippenstein, Lofer and Fieberbrunn can expect around 15-35 centimeters of freshies. The other regions of the northern Alps can expect 5-15 centimeters. The avalanche danger will probably be three out of five (check your local avalanche bulletin!).
Once this low pressure area has passed, freezing cold air is coming from the north. This air contains less humidity and it just stops snowing in the northern Alps. We’ll have to go to the southern Alps for freshies. The combination of cold air from the north, warm and humid air from the south and oceanic air from the west will definitely result in freshies. This low pressure area will control the weather in the Alps from Thursday till Monday.
The high pressure areas are north of the Alps and therefore there won’t be a southern föhn.The northern Alps will be hit by a cold northeastern wind and the French Alps will see a combination of La Lombarde with a cold northern wind. So….? Well, this means snow in the southern Alps and your best shot are the ranges with an southeastern exposure. Anyway, tiny changes in this low pressure area may have a big impact on the snowfall, so we’ll keep you updated!
Powder advice for the weekend
You’ll ride freshies on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the southeaststau resorts of the Piemonte (Sestrière, Crissolo and Prali), near the Gran Paradiso, Monte Rosa or the southeaststau resorts of the Dolomites. You can expect around 30-50 centimeter of freshies. Keep in mind that the snowcover is not as thick as in the northern Alps.
If you don’t want to head into the southern Alps, there some powder to be found in the northern Alps. You’ll have to search for powder in the big resorts, but you’ll definitely find powder between the trees in smaller resorts.
Long term
There is a possibility that this Sunday a new storm will bring more snow to the southern Alps, so you might want to extend your weekend a little bit. Only after the weekend the changes of powder for the northern Alps are rising again.
For now, it’s time to start roadtripping the Italian way!