PA #11: deep winter from Friday, but too warm after Sunday

PA #11: deep winter from Friday, but too warm after Sunday

The weather in Europe is dominated by super storm Evi. There is a weather alert in a lot of countries and there’s a warning for strong wind and a lot of snow. You can check all the warnings on meteoalarm.eu. The avalanche danger in the northwest of the Alps will rise (or is already) HIGH right now. This will be a something to have a close look at when the temperature temporarily rises on Thursday and the snow will become a bit heavier. Fortunately it will get colder again, it will start snowing and the wind won’t be that strong anymore. In this forecast:

  • Super storm Evi
  • Temporarily rise in temperature on Thursday
  • Much colder on Friday
  • HIGH avalanche danger
  • Where to go?
  • Long term: rising temperatures (and snow line)

Super storm Evi

I already wrote a lot about super storm Evi yesterday. Check out [this forecast] (https://wepowder.com/en/forum/topic/253438) for all the details. In short, it comes down to this:

  • Incoming warm front and lots of snow above 1200-1500 meters on Tuesday. The most snow came down in the northern French Alps, western Wallis, the Gotthard region and Vorarlberg.
  • The cold front came in (and a strong wind) last night. You can expect continuous snowfall with the current coming from the northwest on Wednesday. You can expect the most snow in the northern French Alps, the west of Switzerland, everything north of the northern Swiss alpine ridge, Vorarlberg and the north stau areas in the Salzburgerland and Styria.
  • The temperatures will rise on Thursday and you can expect a lot of wind and a rising snow line. These high temperatures are the result of a warm front, which will result in a current that’ll turn to the southwest and will bring warm air to the Alps. You can check that out on the maps below. The red arrow represents the incoming higher temperatures. The blue arrow represents the cold air that is expected in the night to Friday.

The higher temperatures on Thursday will temporarily result in a rising snow line and this means that the moist air won’t improve the tree runs. So it’s far from perfect. The wind is coming from the southwest and is still pretty strong.

  • The temperature will drop again on Friday, but the wind is still really strong and you can expect snow deep into the valleys in the northern Alps.
  • You can expect continuous snowfall with a snow line deep into the valleys in the northwest of the Alps on Saturday and Sunday.

You can expect about 100-150 cm, locally even 200 cm of fresh snow in the northern French Alps and western Switzerland. In the rest of the northern Alps this will be about 20-50 cm, locally 80 cm.

Take care: HIGH avalanche danger

Lots of fresh snow, fluctuating temperatures and a lot of wind. That is a cocktail that guarantees a rapidly rising avalanche danger. Add that a considerable layer of surface hoar has developed in many places in the Alps the last few days and all conditions for a very tricky situation are there. The avalanche danger is pretty critical, so take it easy! I still have some additions to make a choice where to go:

  • Choose resorts with lots of tree runs. There is sometimes less wind in the forests lower on the mountain.
  • Stay away from those parts of the mountain where larger, open and steep faces are located, because they are now extremely dangerous
  • Listen to snow patrol and read the avalanche forecast!

Where and when to go?

Wednesday is a great day for tree runs. Forget about Thursday (rising temperatures) and wait for the cold front that’ll come in on Friday. Ride powder below the tree line. It will be quite dangerous above the tree line. Stay away from the faces that are too steep and pick a face that’s not that steep with trees. You’ll find plenty of them in the northwest. The wind will calm down on Saturday and Sunday and it’s still snowing. There’s a ‘tree run alert’ for the northwest of the Alps this weekend. Think about tree runs in the northern French Alps, the west and north of Switzerland and Vorarlberg.

Long term: milder and rising snow line

Do you still don’t know if you should go or not? I would go. Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be great days. The temperature will rise after that and the snow line will rise again.

wePowder Pro members: thanks for your support!!

We have introduced wePowder Pro this winter. You’ll get extra weather and terrain data for € 25,08 per year (you can not even buy a day pass for that amount in many places). This allows us to further expand our service and we have found a way to express your support to us. Many of the readers of wePowder have done that already and the whole wePowder team and myself are grateful for that. This allows us to keep on developing to make our service even better. Thank you very much!

Are you not a wePowder Pro yet, but do you regularly read the weather forecast or use the services on wePowder? With an upgrade to wePowder Pro you support us, you can express your gratitude and you’ll ride more powder. And it works great for your karma as well. Thanks! Oh, and you’ll get a free 7-day trial when you register yourself on wePowder. No strings attached!

Stay stoked,
Morris

meteomorris

Replies

Advanced
VuccuAuthor17 January 2018 · 09:18

@@meteomorris for a Saturday raid from Verona what could be a good place? We thought to go to st Anton but it don’t look so good for Saturday…what you think? thx

Advanced
DottinoAuthor17 January 2018 · 11:30

Resort with tree run in western Wallis anyone?? Thank you ;) Enjoy the snow

Advanced
StorpotatisenAuthor17 January 2018 · 11:52

How about Evolene and Ovronnaz?

~~Storpotatisen~~
Advanced
AdamSteklAuthor17 January 2018 · 19:47

Hello Morris,
exactly as you forecasted! Warm front followed by cold, today was great powder day in south west Czech Republic. Around noon dry powder started to fall. Looking forward for the Friday and weekend, but scared of the warm coming in afterwards, hope it will not last long.
Thanks
Adam

Adam
Expert
meteomorrisAuthor18 January 2018 · 06:57

@@Vuccu both Stuben en Sonnenkopf do have tree runs within the Arlberg region.
@@Dottino in addition to @@Storpotatisen Vercorin, Champex, La Fouly
@@AdamStekl it will stay cool in Czech until monday. As of Thursday next week it might get cooler again.

powfinder.com
Tourist
Glomstulen Author18 January 2018 · 10:08

Flying into geneva tomorrow morning and staying until monday. Where would you suggest to go?

Advanced
StorpotatisenAuthor18 January 2018 · 10:46

@Glomstulen Well, in addition to all the resorts suggested in this thread, you can also check this post out; https://wepowder.com/en/forum/topic/253466

~~Storpotatisen~~
Advanced
DWFAuthor18 January 2018 · 17:44

Great powder day in La Clusaz today

DWF
Advanced
DWFAuthor18 January 2018 · 17:44

Great powder day in La Clusaz today

DWF
Tourist
amandafugeAuthor18 January 2018 · 19:28

Hi Morris

I’ve got wepowder pro now but it doesn’t work on the app, is that right? Is there a way to login?

Cheers

Amanda

Tourist
couloirjackAuthor19 January 2018 · 19:00

Hi Amanda,
Not sure about the app, but great Maurienne pow skiing yesterday!

Tourist
caluchkoAuthor19 January 2018 · 19:38

Hi folk! What’s the verdict? Is it still worth going out tomorrow? I’m thinking about verbier (bruson).

Tourist
markabakkenAuthor20 January 2018 · 22:58

Hi Morris.

We are 2 powderdogs from Norway planning to spend the next week in the Alps. Flying into genève tomorrow, and we have so far been thinking about freeriding/heli-skiing in the Monte Rosa massif, with base i Gressoney.

But we have a rental car and are mobile and could easly move to other parts of the alps if u have some good alternatives for us.

Cheers, looking forward to read your next powderalert :-)

Mikjel & Marius

Tourist
amandafugeAuthor21 January 2018 · 07:45

Hi Amanda,
Not sure about the app, but great Maurienne pow skiing yesterday!

couloirjack op 19 Jan 2018 19:00

I agree mate, wasn’t it awesome!! :D

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