The first Genua-low of this winter is coming up! It will snow heavily in the southern Alps this weekend, but we can enjoy some freshies that came down with PowderAlert #9. It's hard to believe that it was 20 degrees in the Alps on Monday. It's snowing again in the northwest of the Alps since Monday evening. The snow line was going up and down at first, but it's now snowing deep into the valleys. Friday will be a great day in the Alps. If you are traveling to the Alps the next couple of days and you want to support wePowder and this forecast, book your accommodation using this link. We receive a small percentage of every booking made through this link and this helps us a lot to improve wePowder and advice you even better. Thanks in advance! In this forecast:
It's been snowing heavily in the northwest of the Alps since Monday evening. The snow line went up and down due to the jetstream that was moving south very slowly. It's cold right now and it's snowing above 1000 meters (and sometimes even at lower altitude). You can expect around 10-30 cm of freshies in the northwest of the Alps today. And already 10-40 cm of freshies came down since Monday evening. The most snow will come down the next couple of hours in the Berner Oberland, the west of Wallis and the northwest of the Savoie. The sun will come out on Friday and it will be a great day to ride powder before the southern Föhn kicks in.
One look at the map above says it all and you can have a look here for more details. You'll find the most snow in the following regions tomorrow:
The current will move to the south on Friday and the first snow will come down in the Italian Piedmont in the night to Saturday. But this is just an appetizer, because the real storm (yes Zissi, that's you) will arrive in the Alps on Saturday. This will result in a strong southern Föhn in the regions north of the main alpine ridge. This means heavy wind and high temperatures on the northern side of the Alps.
The arrival of Zissi will intensify the snowfall in the southern Alps. It will snow heavily in the south of the French southern Alps, the western and southern Piedmont, but especially the northern Italian Piedmont. The snow line will drop to 600 meters or even lower in the Piedmont. I expect 60-100 cm, locally even more than 150 cm of freshies in this region from Saturday to Sunday afternoon. The most snow will fall east of the Monte Rosa (Alagna will get more snow than the other resorts in the Monte Rosa ski area), but you can also expect lots of freshies east of the Mont Viso and the Gran Paradiso. Even Limone Piemonte and Isola 2000 will get some snow. Because of the heavy snowfall it might be a good idea to arrive in this region on Saturday (just before the storm), but expect some lifts (and even resorts) to be closed on Sunday.
The snowfall will expand into the rest of the southern Alps on Sunday. The Dolomites and bordering regions will also get some freshies. The snow line will be around 700-1000 meter and it will snow heavily till Monday. But... warmer air will arrive in the Alps on Sunday thanks to Zissi. She's moving to the east, and I expect the current to move to the north and as a result warmer air arrives in the Alps. The snow line might rise up to 1200-1800 meters in the southern Alps on Sunday afternoon. But it's too early for the details. The current will turn to the northeast after Sunday and the northern Alps will get some freshies again.
As always the devil is in the detail and there is still a chance that things change. Getting there on Saturday and being there when the dump starts probably is the best advice. You can ride in the trees on Sunday and Monday (if the lifts are open) and you'll just have to wait and see what happens next.
The powderchase for this week:
More details and fine tuning tomorrow. If you already want to book your accommodation: support wePowder and use this link.
Stay stoked, Morris