Some freshies for the highest peaks

A dusting of snow will refresh the slopes. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s not exactly the amount of snow the Alps need at the moment. Two weak fronts cross the Alps the next couple of days and this won’t result in a big dump, but in a wet fart. A strong high pressure area is dominating the weather and we have to search for some positive points. Even on the long term. In this article:

• Some freshies for the northern Alps, but with high temperatures
• No precipitation and green alpine meadows in the southern Alps
• Some movement in the models after the 17th of December

A dusting of snow for the northern Alps

There’s some snow coming down the next couple of days. It won’t be enough for some good riding, but it will look good. It will result in some nice pictures on Thursday and Friday above 1200 - 1500 meters. If you live close to the Alps you could check out the Jungfrau Region. The base is pretty good and you could find around 15 centimeters of wind-blown freshies. But don’t wait too long, because the temperatures will rise on Thursday. Austria will get some snow on Saturday. The snow line will drop temporarily and with clouds and incoming warm air you can forget about Sunday. Thursday morning probably will be the best day for a powder turn, but to be completely honest, you must be quite desperate to spend your money. There’s no such thing as winter at the moment and with the high temperatures the snow cover below the treeline is shrinking fast.

Even worse in the southern Alps

The situation in the southern Alps is dramatic and there’s no snow in the forecast till the middle of December. They didn’t get any bug dumps during autumn and now we just have to hope for a big dump in the next six weeks. If the southern Alps don’t get a decent base before mid-Janury, than the season is pretty much over. This situation reminds me of a season at the beginning of the century. The first snow came down at the end of December and there wasn’t much precipitation in January either. I really love the treeruns in the southern Alps, so I hope the snow will come down…

Conclusion: Forget about freeriding in the Alps until December the 19th. Save your money for better times and wait for the dump to come. If you just have to go to the Alps, consider your time in the mountains as a great work-out. Work on your skills. And if the dump comes, you’ll be ready. If you stay at home, now is the time to start working on your knowledge!

If you’re not interested in riding powder, but just read this forecast to know where the snow will come down because you love to ski on the slopes? Don’t worry. There’s plenty of artificial snow in the Alps at the moment. If the snow won’t come down the next couple of weeks, you will find some white ribbons in a green landscape in the ski resorts.

Some movement in the models after the 17th of December

When you look at the image above you probably just see a black line and a set of red lines. The black lines are the measurements so far and the red line is the expectation. Do not worry about such images. See them as a modern bible: they give me hope. I know you’re disappointed because of this forecast, but for me it’s even worse. I have to look to this image four times a day and every time it just doesn’t change. But… one positive point popped up. The fact that the red line in the image above doesn’t go that high is good news. That could mean that later this month (just like in November), the jet stream will drop and the Alps finally get into the cold air. Time for a snow dance!!

Stay stoked, Morris