PowderAlert #20 has started! And this is a tricky one! A band of depressions between Ireland and the Gulf of Genua is causing lots of trouble in France, the airport of Geneva, the Italian Po-valley and, lucky for us, the mountains! The website of the airport of Geneva was off-line this morning and they’re doing everything they can to keep delays to a minimum. Lots of flights are cancelled this morning as a result of the bad weather.
They got around 20-45 centimeters of pow Iin the first mountains of the Haute-Savoie, Savoie and Isère last night, but it didn’t snow at all in the more inneralpine regions. The Beaufortain had some freshies, but it was just about dry in Méribel in Les Trois Vallées.
Areches Beaufort
It snowed a lot in the Isère and the Vercors (as expected). The snow line is going up and down in the Vercors (around the altitude of the valley lifts), but in Les Deux Alpes it’s snowing big time!
Villard-de-Lans
A band of low pressure areas is causing all this snowfall. The low pressure area that is situated in the Gulf of Genua right now is causing trouble at the airports and roads, but also brings a lot of powder to the French Alps.
The most snow is falling in the French southern Alps right now. The combination of humid air above the Mediterranean and the colder air from the north is causing lots of precipitation.
It’s puking in Puy st. Vincent
Short term
The snowfall is getting less in the next 24 hours in France, but it starts snowing heavily in the north of Italy. A weather alarm is announced for the Po-valley and it will start snowing over there this afternoon. The combination of very cold air from the north and the relatively warm Mediterranean is causing lots of snow in the southern Alps! A southstau will be on on Monday and Tuesday. And this will bring lots of powder!
In detail
I expect the most snow to fall south of the Ecrins (French southern Alps) and in the western and southern Piemonte (southern Alps west) till Monday afternoon. The lesser know resorts in the Vercors (such as Villard de Lans) can expect lots of powder as well. Expect around 20-40 centimeter, locally even 60 centimeters!
The storm will move to the east on Monday night. The first mountains in the central southern Alps and the southern Alps in the east can expect lots of freshies. I expect 20-40 centimeters, locally even 80 centimeters in these regions. The heaviest snowfall will be in the Dolomites, the Alpe di Julia and the Karntischer Alps.
A new front will hit the northern Alps on Wednesday. Again. Because the current storm is moving to the east, it allows colder air to move south and bring snow to the northern Alps. A north stau will hit the east of Switzerland and the northern Alps of Austria. This storm will bring around 20-45 centimeters of freshies. The resorts in the main alpine ridge can expect 5-15 centimeters.
Powderadvice
• Monday: powder in the northern Alps of Austria or powder in the Ecrins and Isère.
• Tuesday and Wednesday: southern Alps, southern Alps and if you’re not sure about where to ride: southern Alps. The treeruns will be deep (especially on Tuesday).
• Thursday: the northern Alps or find some untracked lines in the southern Alps.
Long term
There will be two scenarios for the long term. The first one is dry and sunny weather (high pressure area). The second scenario is more interesting. It’s a northstau that will start this weekend. But hey, it’s too far ahead to make a good forecast. More details later this week!
Stay stoked and enjoy the cold smoke blower pow
Morris