PA#7: How much snow will the Genoa-low bring?

PA#7: How much snow will the Genoa-low bring?

A strong high pressure area is keeping the storms at distance from the Alps. The sun is shining, the sky is blue and you can still find some powder on the north side of the Alps. And it’s not crowded at all at the moment. But beware: there’s a weak layer in the snow cover in lots of places in the northern Alps (including the French northern Alps). You can’t see this layer weak layer with the naked eye, so it’s hard to recognize. You’d better adapt your riding to it!

Thanks to that high pressure system you don’t have to expect any snowfall the next couple of days on the north side of the Alps. We’ll definitely need another big dump, but we have to be patient. But there might be a dump in the forecast on the south side of the Alps. In this forecast:

  • Bluebird and fresh snow in the northern Alps
  • Huge amounts of snow in central Italy
  • Dry, sunny and cold the next couple of days
  • A Genoa-low this weekend?

Bluebird and fresh snow in the northern Alps

The sun is shining in the Alps after the snowfall of last weekend. The sky is blue, there’s plenty of snow and we’ve received a lot of live reports. It’s a good time to be in the mountains!

Portes du Soleil
Portes du Soleil
Davos
Davos
Saalbach
Saalbach

There’s a lot of fresh snow, but it’s definitely not the time to ride steep faces. As in: I wouldn’t ride steep faces at the moment. The tricky weak layer deeper in the snow is even invisible to the experts.

TIP: check the avalanche forecast on the resort pages on wePowder or lawinen.org

Huge amounts of snow in central Italy

While the sun is shining in the Alps, it’s snowing heavliy in central Italy. Huge amounts of snow came down the last 36 hours and there’s more snow in the forecast. Storm Finjas is going strong and sends a very active front to the east side of the Apennines. And this results in lots of snow. Check it out here. And while the snow is falling, the region has been hit by multiple earthquakes. Let’s hope everybody is okay.

Deep, deeper, deepest
Deep, deeper, deepest

Dry, sunny and cold the next couple of days

The next few days will remain dry, sunny and cold in the Alps. High pressure reigns and ensures that the heavy cold air sticks around in the valleys. The nights are therefore cold, while during the day the temperatures on the mountain are a bit higher than in the valley. The weather will be like this until Saturday.

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A Genoa-low this weekend?

A new storm is in the forecast from Sunday. This Genoa low will develop itself during the weekend, and will bring snow to the northwest of Italy. The main models agree that this storm will actually happen, but the storm path and intensity are still a matter of debate. Nevertheless, something to look forward to.

Provisional calculated amounts of snow
Provisional calculated amounts of snow
Genoa low
Genoa low

You can definitely ride some powder on the north side of the Alps the next couple of days (in some places the last snow came down on Monday and Tuesday). It is not crowded at the moment, but don’t ride too steep. Check out the local avalanche forecast and adapt your riding to it. I’ll give you some more details about the Genoa low later this week. PowderAlert #7 is coming up!

Stay stoked. Morris.

meteomorris
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