First sunny and mild, then some snow again

First sunny and mild, then some snow again
Sunny day in Arosa (roundshot.com)
Sunny day in Arosa (roundshot.com)

After the snowfall in the Eastern Alps on Monday, calm has returned. A high-pressure area dominates the weather pattern in the Alps today, which means we can expect sun-drenched conditions. The high-pressure area will not remain unchanged, as a cold front with precipitation will arrive from the west over the course of Friday. The short wintry interlude will bring some snow, especially in the Northwest Alps, but immediately afterwards temperatures will rise again.

Deep winter conditions in Garmisch (foto-webcam.eu)
Deep winter conditions in Garmisch (foto-webcam.eu)

Sunny and mild

^The forecasts on wePowder are powdered by our friends at Ortovox

Today is a beautiful day in the Alps. On the webcam image of Garmisch, only the high sun betrays that it is no longer mid-winter. The sunny high-pressure conditions ensure that after a week of cool winter weather, temperatures can rise significantly again. The snow cover will therefore soon disappear again in the valleys. Over the next three days, the temperatures in the valleys on the northern side of the Alps will rise to 18 degrees. In the southern Alps even 20 degrees is possible. Tomorrow some high clouds will move in from the west, but until Friday afternoon it will remain dry.

Cold front with snow from the west on Friday (wetter3.de, DWD)
Snow from the west (wxcharts.com)

Cold front with snow

After these three mild and mostly sunny days, a cold front with precipitation will approach from the west on Friday. Especially the French Northern Alps and the west of Switzerland will benefit from this snowfall with 10 to 20 centimeters of snow in the night from Friday to Saturday. The snow line will be initially, as usual after a warm period, still quite high (around 1500 meters), but because of the cooler air that will flow in during the passage of the cold front, the snow line will quickly drop to around 1000 to 1200 meters.

The rest of the northern side will get a lot less snow (maximum 5 to 10 centimeters) and east of the Arlberg it will remain at 1 to 2 centimeters on Saturday. The southern areas of the Southern Alps may also get some of this snowfall. Ticino in particular seems to benefit in the night from Friday to Saturday about 10 centimeters with a snowline of about 1300 meters. In the course of Saturday the snowfall will also reach the Julian Alps, where there may also be some 10 to 20 centimeters of snow.

GFS ensemble Geneva (wetterzentrale.de)
GFS ensemble Geneva (wetterzentrale.de)

Warmer

Immediately after the passage of the cold front, a high-pressure area takes control again. With a southwestern high flow, it may become even warmer than during the next few days. Temperatures above 20 degrees will most likely be possible. Until the middle of next week we should not expect any new precipitation either. As can be seen in the spread of the GFS ensemble, further developments around Easter remain very uncertain.

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Henri
knows everything about new ski areas, lifts and projects.
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