Get ready for a northern Stau!

The temperatures are dropping again, there’s still a lot of snow in the forecast and the first northern Stau of 2016 is coming up! There’s quite a good base above 1500 meters in the northwest of the Alps and with the snow that will come down the next couple of days it will be pretty good! In this forecast:

• Let’s forget about this weekend
• Low temperatures and lots of snow
• Snow for the west and the south on Monday
• Northern Stau from Tuesday

Let’s forget about this weekend

It was mild, the snow was wet and after a magical Thursday we had to deal with bad conditions this weekend. But some grey weather is nothing compared to the sadness that family and friends of two Italian tour skiers must feel. These two skiers were killed in an avalanche in Valais yesterday. The avalanche situation is quite critical in large parts of the Alps. A poor base combined with all the snow that came down last week resulted in a high avalanche danger in large parts of the Alps. Actually, we are lucky that the snowpack is pretty wet right now to just above the tree line. With a little luck, this creates a good base for the tree runs in the French Alps and Switzerland. You can find something of a base in the west and north of the Piemonte and Aosta as well and that offers perspective.

Low temperatures and lots of snow

The jet stream will move more to the south the next couple of days and the temperatures will drop in the Alps. It will snow deep into the valleys. Monday and Tuesday will be beautiful days in the western and southern Alps. You’ll find great powder in the trees. You can get ready to make some powder turns in the northern Alps on Wednesday and Thursday. PowderAlert #5 is ON for the west from Monday, for the west and south from Tuesday and for the northwest and north on Wednesday. Snow for the entire Alps. How awesome is that?!

Snow for the west and the south on Monday

It will start snowing again in the northwest of the Alps on Sunday, but it will snow even harder in the night from Sunday to Monday. The jet stream is still southwest, which will result in lots of snow for the west and south. It will be pretty deep in the French Alps and the west of Switzerland by Monday afternoon. And there’s even more snow on its way!

Check out the snowfall in your resort on the forecast page. If you want to know more details about the snowfall in a resort, check out the destination pages. For example the ones from Chamonix, Verbier and St. Anton am Arlberg. Check out all the details (the different peaks and resorts in the area) below the snow map.

Northern Stau from Tuesday

The jet stream will turn to the northwest on Tuesday and we can get ready for something a lot of people have been waiting for: NORTHERN STAU! Northern Switzerland, Vorarlberg and the glacier resorts in Austria are already benefiting from the front on Sunday and Monday, but the rest of the northern Alps will also get plenty snow from Tuesday. You can expect two days of northern Stau and this means that it will be on like Donkey Kong in resorts in the Vorarlberg and the Kleinwalsertal from Wednesday!

The temperature will rise on Thursday, but fortunately it will be dry. But don’t worry, the snowfall will hit the Alps on Friday again!

In short: Wax up, PowderAlert #5 is on its way! This is the powderchase:

• Monday: check this list where you should go.
• Tuesday: check this list where you should go
• Wednesday: all the resorts from the lists above + the resorts in this list. Keep in mind that you’ll only find a decent base in Switzerland and the Arlberg region. The other resorts still need some more snow.

And for those who really want an adventure. We also have a list of secrets. But beware …not all of these resorts already have a good base. But with secrets, it’s just like turns. You have to earn them. So happy hunting! Choose resorts with trees between 1400 and 2100 meters and a decent base and you’ll have some great days. And if you’d ask me, I would avoid the steep slopes and big faces above the 2200 meter. Leave those slopes to the the avalanche dummies.

Stay stoked, Morris