Winter is definitely back! It's snowing in the western and northern Alps since Sunday evening and it will continue to snow this Monday morning. The sun will come out during the afternoon in the French Alps and it will start snowing again in the night to Tuesday. More sunshine on Tuesday and this could be THE day of the week to ride powder! But please ride with care: the avalanche danger is HIGH above 2200 meters. In this forecast:
It's snowing hard in the French Alps and western Switzerland since last night. The further east, the less snow came down. Up to 50 centimeters of snow came down in the west of Wallis and parts of the northern French Alps. Snow magnet Les Marecottes even got 54 cm at 2200 meters.
It's also snowing hard in the rest of western Valais and the Bernese Oberland snow. You'll find the measurements of this morning below. You can add another 10-20 centimeters of snow from the last two hours.
It's also snowing in the French northern Alps and the north of the French southern Alps. The wind is something to consider, because a lot of snow is transported in the high alpine. Another 10-30 centimeters come down in the west today. It won't snow that hard east of Engelberg anymore. From there up to the Arlberg you can expect 10-25 cm. It won't snow that much east of the Arlberg. You can expect the most snow in the Bauges, Beaufortain, Aravis, Chablais and western Valais. The sun will come out this afternoon and you'll find some great snow on the alpine meadows in those regions.
The conditions in the northern French Alps and the west of Wallis improved thanks to the snowfall on Saturday and last night. An overview of the current snow depths in the northern and southern Alps. In the French northern Alps and western Valais Alps you can currently find the following amounts of snow:
Most snow can be found in the western regions, such as the Belledone, Beaufortain and Bauges, but the conditions are also good in the Chablais, Aravis, Tarentaise and Vanoise. The further south and east, the thinner the base. The French southern Alps clearly has less snow. A distinction should be made between the most northern areas of the French Southern Alps (Serre Chevalier, Puy St. Vincent, Risuol/Vars, Orcieres and Superdevoluy) and the areas that are situated more to the south.
The sun will come out in many parts of the western French Alps on Monday afternoon. But it will keep on snowing the longest in the Haute Savoie, western Wallis and the northern Alps. Monday afternoon will be great for some powder turns on the alpine meadows of the Belledone, Beaufortain, Aravis and the Bauges. You can expect more snowfall in the night from Monday to Tuesday, but the sun will come out on Tuesday. This will be a great day to ride powder, but please make the right decisions. The avalanche danger is HIGH at lots of places. More snow will come down on Wednesday, with cold temperatures. A warm front will kick in on Thursday and the snowline will rise towards 1600 meters or higher during the day. This will probably be the situation for the days after Thursday as well.
First: HIGH avalanche danger above 2200 meters. Stay as much as possible below 2200 meter to reduce the risks and avoid riding on slopes steeper than 35 degrees, and slopes with steep faces above you. Keep in mind that the wind have had huge influence on the snowpack in the high alpine. Small bowls and alpine meadows are the right place to ride powder. Monday you can already ride on the alpine meadows in the Belledone, Beaufortain, Aravis and the Bauges. Tuesday will be a powder day pretty much everywhere in the French northern Alps and the west of Wallis. The sun will come out, but there will still be 'Considerable' to 'High' avalanche danger. Some snowfall again on Wednesday. You better head to the bigger resorts in the Vanoise and Tarentaise from Thursday, because of rising temperatures.
Stay stoked, Morris