Up to 35 cm of freshies

It’s snowing in the Italian Piemonte and the resorts near the French border since Thursday afternoon. The resorts close to the Po-valley (the resorts that profit from an eastern stau) received the most freshies. The resorts near the border with France got around 5-20 centimeters, the resorts close to the Po-valley got 15-35 centimeters. This means for the Milky Way (Via Lattea) for example that the most snow can be found east of the Col de Sestrière and you’ll find the great forests of Pragelato there. It’s still snowing lightly at the moment, but the sun is coming out already. It will be on today in the western and southern Piemonte (as forecasted). Check if the lifts are open in the resort you want to ski some powder (check this list as well), because the end of winter is getting closer and closer.

What else to expect?

We’d like to ask you for some feedback. This winter has been the best winter since I started forecasting in 2005, with 28 PowderAlerts already. I hope you used the alerts this season to score some powder. We’re getting stoked messages on a regularly basis about the service, but we also like to hear where we can improve the service to make even better forecasts. You can leave a message in the comments below. Thanks!

Alright, back to powder forecasting. The low pressure area is moving towards the other regions in the southern Alps and is more active than expected. You can expect around 30 centimeters in the Dolomites. The closer you get to the main alpine ridge (in other words, the border with Austria and Switzerland) the less snow will fall. You can expect up to ten centimeters. The precipitation is moving towards the Swiss northern Alpine ridge during the night from Friday to Saturday and you can expect around 5-15 centimeters in that region. And that might just be enough for a day of fun in the mountains!

The weekend will remain pretty unstable with continuous low pressure areas and fronts around the Alps. There might be some light snowfall the entire weekend. Not much, but enough to put a little smile on your face. You’ll find the most powder in the Piemonte and the Dolomites till Sunday.

It’s not the best weather to go out for a tour, because of the fact that it’s overcast continuously. Saturday will start sunny in most regions of the Alps, but the clouds will come in from the west in the afternoon. The best touring conditions will be in the northern Alps. Sunday will start cloudy everywhere, but the sun will come out during the day and it will be really sunny in the afternoon. Austria will be the exception. It will be overcast a bit longer and some flakes might fall down.

Powder advice

• Southern Alps west (north faces in the western and southern Piemonte)

• Southern Alps central (especially the southern resorts in this region)

• Southern Alps east (especially the southern resorts in this region)

• Northern Alps west (especially the northern alpine ridge)

You’ll have to search for powder in the other regions (with some freshies once in a while, 2-10 centimeters).

The beginning of next week: PowderAlert #29

Will this winter ever come to an end? A new front is coming in from the west with more snow for the Alps. The exact path of this front is not certain yet, but I expect it to snow in the western and southern Alps on Monday and Tuesday. And it might get big. Again. And after that….well it looks like it might get warmer.

Long term: instable

Instability is next weeks word. The weather maps are showing two big spring attacks, but winter will kick their ass will some cold air coming in from the north. But….it’s all pretty uncertain what will happen exactly. Spring is around the corner, but just doesn’t have the guts to enter the building. We’ll see what happens next week!

Stay stoked

Morris