Yes, it is finally starting to look like winter! A lot of reports with deep powder are coming in from Austria and I have some great news for the French Alps: it will happen! Snow is on its way! In this forecast:
- Bluebird the next couple of days
- PowderAlert #5 is ON!
- More storms coming in from Tuesday
- Significant snowfall for the French northern Alps
- The snow keeps on falling north of the main alpine ridge in Austria
- PowderAlert #6 will be ON by the end of the week
Bluebird the next couple of days
Between 10-40 cm of fresh snow came down on the north side of the Alps since Saturday night. That was locally even more in eastern Austria. The snow that fell was cold and fluffy. Really cold powder in those places where the wind wasn’t that strong. The sun will come out today. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be three days where you can ride powder in Austria with bluebird conditions!
PowderAlert #5 is ON!
A lot of fresh snow came down, but it’s still early in the season. And the season didn’t start that well in a lot of resorts. I’d go for resorts that already had something that looked like a base below 2000 meters (as in the Northern Alps East), where you can find trees (with a base between the trees, think about larch trees) or alpine meadows where the chance of hitting a branch, rock or another shark is small and that got a lot of snow last week.
TIP: check the avalanche forecast on the resort pages on wePowder or lawinen.org
If you want to have more information on where to go, you can also start with Mountain Academy. This gives you access to knowledge to make better decisions on where to go, ride better powder and become more aware of alpine risks.
My PowderAdvice for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday? Check out the regions below. There’s still plenty of accommodation to be found in those resorts (check it out here).
More storms coming in from Tuesday
The jet stream will turn to the northwest from Tuesday and will finally reach the French northern Alps. This party will get started on Tuesday, but where the jetstream probably didn’t even know France actually existed the last couple of weeks, it will keep knocking on ‘ze door’ this week. This will result in a couple of storms heading to the French Alps.
Because the jet stream is now gaining momentum it’s still difficult to predict the timing of the storms. The storms might kick in sooner, but sometimes later. Anyway, the northern French Alps can count on at least two more storms after the storm that will kick in on Tuesday. That sounds like a plan to me! The might bring enough snow to ride powder in this part of the Alps in the weekend of January the 14th. But be aware! The last significant dump in this part of the Alps dates from late November. There’s no base in most resorts below 2000-2500 meters. And in the few resorts that have something you could call a base, well, in those resort it will serve as the ultimate sliding layer for avalanches. I’ll keep you updated!
The snow keeps on falling north of the main alpine ridge in Austria
Honestly, you’ll find better conditions on the north side of the Alps in Austria this week. The snow pack is growing (especially in Austria) and I would go for PowderAlert #5 on the north side of the Alps right now and maybe even go for the snow that will start coming down again in those regions from Wednesday.
PowderAlert #6 will be ON by the end of the week
If you can not take advantage of PowderAlert #5 the next three days, simply wait for PowderAlert #6. It’s coming!
Stay stoked. Morris
Replies
Hi Morris, I’m a big fan of the website!
We’re trying to plan a weekend before it gets booked out… What do you recon is better north east Swiss or somewhere north west in Austria?
Keep up the great work mate!