We are in the middle of PA #16 and this probably is the last snow for the next 7-10 days. Spring presents itself as early as next week, and this might be last time you could ride tree runs deep into the valleys this winter. There’ll be a lot of snowfall this alert. In western Valais, the Swiss northern alpine ridge and western Austria already got some snow and it’s snowing today (and pretty intense) between Engelberg in Switzerland and the Dachstein massif in Austria. A typical northern Stau situation where the most snow will come down in Tyrol north of the river Inn, but the Dachstein Tauern will get their share as well. It will keep snowing in the east till Friday and PA #16 will bring 20-50, locally 60 cm of freshies between Wednesday and Friday.
Summary:
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Wednesday it snowed in the northwest of the Alps
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Today (Thursday) continuous snowfall in the northern Stau regions
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The sun will come out from the west on Friday, but still some snowfall in the Salzburgerland and Steiermark
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Sunny and spring like conditions from Saturday
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PowderAlert #16 is the last one for a while. This weekend will be a GO!
Wednesday snowfall in the northwest
Tuesday was a beautiful day, but Wednesday brought some freshies to the northwest again. Especially between Grenoble and the Arlberg there was a lot of precipitation. But today (Thursday), the northern Alps are getting hammered. After the passage of the low pressure area a true northern Stau hit the Alps.
Freshies in Switserland
Northern Stau will come in today
In the wake of this storm a classic northern Stau is generated which will bring snow in the entire northern Alps of Switzerland and Austria. A northern Stau in two stages. First it will snow until Thursday. We’ll get some rest and then more snow will fall from Friday to Saturday. As previously announced, the following regions are your best bet. It will be ON on Friday already, and with the snow still to come in the night from Friday to Saturday in Austria, it will be ON during the weekend as well.
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Northern Alps West (Thursday treeruns, Friday and Saturday sun)
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Northern Alps Central (Thursday treeruns, more sun on Friday, lots of sun on Saturday)
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Northern Alps East (Thursday till Saturday morning: treeruns, lots of sunshine after that)
Warning: WIND!
The snowfall of this moment is accompanied by strong winds and even in the valleys the wind can be pretty strong. Fresh snow is transported across the mountain big time causing drift snow / wind slabs. Experts know that drift snow can result in avalanches on faces of about 30 degrees already. If you have no knowledge and no idea how steep some faces are, then you are better off on the groomed slopes.
If you’re going off-piste, make sure you always have your beacon, shovel and probe with you, never go alone, have knowledge of the terrain you are riding that day and always check your local avalanche bulletin. With knowledge you ride safer. There’s a reason that some mountain guides use the following motto: The best freerider is an old freerider.
Go, go, goooo
According to the latest calculations, high pressure takes over and the sun will dominate. Great weather to go touring. If you want to ride fresh powder and tree runs then you should go out the next few days. After that, the Alps will go into a week of no snowfall at all.
Stay stoked
Morris