Three little snow dumps for the Northern Alps

After the snow fall on Thursday and Friday, the weekend started excellent in the Northwest, but it soon became milder and t-shirts showed up on the terraces. Today (Monday) starts mild again, but a new cold front is coming up from the west. It is the first of three fronts this week with snow for the northwestern and northern Alps. I expect the best conditions on Wednesday / Thursday. In this message:

• good powder to be found
• snow from Monday to Tuesday for the Northwest
• most snow on Wednesday for the Northern Als
• some snow on Friday for the Northern Alps
• milder weekend
• where and when to go?

Good powder to be found

It is a difficult winter. Namely in the French (South) Alps and in Italy it is meager, just like in the East Tyrol and Carinthia. The entire and northern Alps have seen some storms pass in recent weeks. Whoever is in the right place at the right time in this part of the Alps will experience winter as less problematic. Last weekend the weather was fine in some places:

But during the course of Sunday the rap became very mild and today, Monday a new front moves into the Alps.

Snow from Monday to Tuesday

The map above shows the cold front that is moving into the north-west of the Alps today. With a western current, cold(er) air is pressed into the northwestern part of the Alps. Before the cold front, the snow line is round 1800 meters, but drops towards 1000 meters in the course of the evening. Between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, an average of 5-10 cm of fresh snow willfalls over 2000 meters. Accumulations will be bigger in the higher alpine in the Mont Blanc region and the Alpennordhang.

On Tuesday itself the sun will be back again everywhere. And with a temperature of around -7 degrees at 2000 meters, it is almost 15 degrees colder than it was last weekend.

Snow on Wednesday

On Wednesday another front passes the Alps. This time the upper air flow is a little more northwest, in contrast to the Monday-Tuesday front. The supplied air is colder and the snow line considerably lower. From the start the snow line will sit around 600 meters. The center of gravity of the precipitation is now from the Eiger to Vorarlberg. The wind is less powerful and the snow falls deeper into the valleys. Count on 10-25 cm above 1500 meters, with locally up tp 35 centimeters.

Thursday, the sun is coming through and it will be a wonderful powder day in central Switzerland and the Vorarlberg in Austria. The hohe Tauern may also pick some, but the amounts are still uncertain. I will keep you informed about this under this blog.

Some snow on Friday

In the course of Thursday the weather changes and from Thursday to Friday a few centimeters may fall on the north side of the Alps. Nothing really significant and the prelude to a milder weekend. Snow line on Friday around 1000 meters.

Where and when to go?

Tuesday can be quite nice in the higher alpine around Mont Blanc. The higher parts of the Lötschental also get their share. But the strong winds will create some windslabs for sure.

I expect the best conditions on Thursday in central Switzerland and Vorarlberg. There will be more fresh snow, less wind, colder and therefore deeper conditions.

A new update by Wednesday at the latest.

Your Powfinder, Morris