Speculation: winter will return on the 12th of December

According to the latest maps winter will return on December the 12th. That’s good news, but it’s all very speculative. The weather maps were less optimistic yesterday, telling us to wait until December the 18th. We just have to deal with this uncertainty. I’ll try to separate fact from fiction.

• A great start in the northern Alps, but dramatic conditions in the southern Alps
• Some snow at high altitude in the north west and the Piemonte during the weekend
• No precipitation at the beginning of next week
• Winter is starting again on the 12th of December
• Hold your horses or go on a tour

A great start in the northern Alps, but dramatic conditions in the southern Alps

The northern Alps received a good base (as I told you before), but we still have to wait for a good dump in the southern Alps. Or formulated even better: there’s no snow in the southern Alps. After the debacle of the first Christmas week of 2014 a lot of people are getting a little bit nervous. Will there be snow? The conditions in the northern Alps are better than last year and we still have 17 days till the start of Christmas holidays. A lot can happen in 17 days and I can hopefully launch PowderAlert#4!

Some snowfall during the weekend

A very small low pressure area that will form south of England the next couple of days will make its way to the Alps this weekend. It will bring some cold air and snow. Especially the northwest of Switzerland and with this eastern current possibly the Piemonte will get some snow. This low pressure area appeared on the maps yesterday and had become more actiev. This offers some perspective on some freshies.

No precipitation at the beginning of next week

Well, that’s what the cards are saying. There’s a small chance on some precipitation on the 8th, but the air temperature is high, so don’t expect too much.

Winter is starting again on the 12th of December

Well, that might be too much of a statement. The next 48 hours will have to show whether this precipitation will remain visible on the cards. It was already on the cards on Monday, but it disappeared in the calculations of yesterday. So it’s back again today, but only as one of the few runs in the GFS model. The comeback of winter needs more support in the models. It’s positive that the European model is showing this development for the first time today as well. And that makes me happy. The winter will return somewhere between the 11th and 18th of December, and with the southwest current that’s visible on the maps I’m pretty confident that the southern Alps will get some snow as well. Let’s see how these speculations will become reality the next couple of days.

Powder advice: Hold your horses or go on a tour

You can find pretty good snow on the glaciers and the lifts are running in some resorts. You better wait a little longer. St. Anton and Lech will open next weekend and you’ll probably find some good snow on north faces. Sunday could be a pretty good day after the snow from December the fifth. But until then you better go touring on the alpine meadows in the north of Switzerland.

Stay stoked
Morris