At the start of the season for many ski areas in Austria, the Northern Alps were treated to a Stau from the northwest. In Switzerland, 30 to 50 centimeters of snow came down, but also in St. Anton the season started with about 30 centimeters of fresh snow yesterday. In a normal season the powder panic in the Arlberg would be high, but you could ride untracked powder well into the afternoon yesterday. The base is still very thin, it was easy to hit some sharks beneath the snow and I guess it was P-tex galore in the evening.
Coldest night yet
Last night was the coldest night of winter so far for most of the regions in the Alps. After a fresh layer of snow from the north, the Alps ended up in arctic air. Above the fresh snow cover, this resulted in low temperatures on a large scale and locally (both in the Northern and Southern Alps) temperatures of below -20 degrees. The Swiss town of Samedan (next to St. Moritz) measured as much as -23.6 degrees this morning and the ‘Kälteloch’ Glattalp even noted -27.1 degrees yesterday evening.
Southern and western Stau
^The forecasts on wePowder are powdered by our friends at Ortovox
More than a week ago, a southern stau with a lot of precipitation popped up in the weather models. Under the influence of storm Bella above Great Britain, this southern Stau situation continues, which will provide a lot of snow for the Western and Southern Alps. Bella is already creating a turbulent day in a large part of Western Europe with strong gusts of wind and a lot of rain, but will also reach the Western Alps in the course of the afternoon. With a snow line in the west around 1000 meters and dropping to about 500 meters tomorrow, you can expect 20 to possibly even 50 centimeters locally until tomorrow afternoon. After a short pause with possible clearings, it can snow again until Wednesday evening, resulting in another 10 to a maximum of 30 centimeters.
The snowfall will also spread over the Southern Alps in the course of the night and here too it can snow heavily until tomorrow evening. All in all, the Julian Alps will be the absolute winner of this Südstau. A meter of snow can fall here until Wednesday. The southern Dolomites and Lombardy will profit as well with about 20 to 50 centimeters with a snow line of around 500 meters. The inneralpine regions such as South Tyrol will get less.
Föhn in the Northern Alps
The Northern Alps are initially faced with a strong Südföhn all the way into the valleys. Higher up, gusts of wind of 120 km/h are possible. In the course of tomorrow afternoon, colder air will arrive in the northern Alps from the west, causing the Föhn situation to collapse and it may also snow temporarily into the valleys here. In most areas, this will not result in not much more than 5 to 10 centimeters of snow. Only in the areas close to the main alpine ridge you can expect about 20 centimeters.
Slightly changeable and winter conditions
The weather will bounce up and down from the middle of the week, but the precipitation amounts are no longer that high. Sunny periods alternate with clouds and sometimes some precipitation. With good winter temperatures, the precipitation that falls will also come down in solid form in the lower valleys. By the end of the week, a low-pressure area above the Mediterranean seems to be able to cause a lot of snowfall in the Southern Alps again. More about this the day after tomorrow in a new weather report!
wePowder guide is here!
Winter is here, but it’s still not sure what this season will look like. It’s always time to start dreaming and preparing. Whatever it will look like, the wePowder Guide is available again. We’ve extended the pre-order price of € 45.00 (excl. shipping) for a while. This thick book of 400+ pages is in stock and will be delivered to you as soon as possible! Thanks for your support!