Stormy week with rain, lots of wind and snowfall

It was deep in the Alps again on Saturday, as you can see above in Zell am See. A new storm called Xanthos is on its way to the Alps. This storm was off the coast of Canada just 24 hours ago and dominates the weather from Sunday to Tuesday. It was -16 degrees celcius in the ski area Sonnenkopf at 2000 meters on Saturday afernoon, but the temperature will rise to around zero degrees (or even higher) on Monday. A hurricane-like souther Föhn takes us back from deep winter to early autumn. It will be a struggle in the northern Alps, but will the storm will bring lots of snow to the southern Alps. Forget about Monday and Tuesday, but there will be plenty of options to ride powder after that. In this forecast:

• Super storm Xanthos
• Southern Stau with a cold ending
• Another storm in the forecast

Super storm Xanthos

A super storm with the name Xanthos crossed the Atlantic Ocean in no time and arrived in the French Alps in the course of the Sunday morning and then spread rapidly towards the rest of the western Alps. Xanthos splits and sends a storm to the southern Alps. The current is therefore coming from the south. It will start to snow in the western Alps at first, but the southern Alps will get hammered. Due to the orographic cooling, it remains cold on the south side of the main alpine ridge, while the northern Alps have to deal with a hurricane-like Föhn from the south. There is still a lot of cold air in the valleys on Sunday, but Xanthos will push warm air to the northern Alps during the day and the snow line will rise towards the 1,800 meters (with a strong wind). It will start to snow heavily south of the main alpine ridge.

Southern Stau with a cold ending

It will continue to snow heavily on the south side of the main alpine ridge on Monday and it will keep on snowing all day. The snow line will be deep in the valleys at first, but it will rise to around 1400 to 1700 meters on Monday. The northern Alps are faces with a hurricane-like Föhn storm and high temperatures. The wind turns to northwest by the end of Monday, the temperature drops and it will snow lightly north of the main alpine ridge. Monday and Tuesday are not ideal days with all the strong winds, but the good news is that there is finally snow falling in those parts of the southern Alps that yearn for snow.

Another storm in the forecast

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A new storm will come in after Tuesday. Again, we have to deal with a Föhn from the south (but fortunately only temporarily). It will be less dramatic and it will snow in the entire Alps. It is a difficult week for a powder chase, but who knows, there might be some windows next week. More about that later this week. I am optimistic, although it’s warm for a while, it’s always good to have a good base in the southern Alps. In addition, I believe in low temperatures later in the week. In short, a lot of snow for the western and southern Alps, also snow for the northern Alps, but due to storm, rain and fluctuating temperatures the start of the week will be challenging.

I’ll ride some more powder today here in St. Anton am Arlberg, before the Föhn from the south kicks in.

Stay stoked, Morris