Today it’s already the last wePowder weather forecast of this bizarre season. Many ski resorts that are still open in Austria and Switzerland will close their lifts after this weekend, but winter will of course continue for a while in the high mountains. After a very cold period in the first two weeks of April and some snow up into the valley during the coming weekend, spring will slowly but surely return next week. However, at least until the end of next week we do not have to expect a prolonged warm and dry phase. It remains fairly changeable.
Snow in the southwestern Alps
In the southwestern Alps it has been snowing for a while. Due to a fairly strong easterly flow in the Po Valley, quite a bit of Stau already took place yesterday in the western Piedmont, such as in Prali. This snowfall has (in weakened form) also reached the French side, as can be seen on the webcam image of Serre Chevalier. Especially the areas south of Aosta received up to 30 centimeters of snow higher up!
Snow showers
^The forecasts on wePowder are powdered by our friends at Ortovox
On the surface, the Alps are experiencing high-pressure influence today due to the nearby system over the British Isles and Scandinavia, while higher up an low-pressure is dominating the weather picture (see the 500 hPa geopotential altitude map above). This situation initially creates very sunny conditions, but during the afternoon increasingly cloudy conditions. The cumulus clouds may develop further, particularly in the Western Alps, causing some snow showers to develop here in a few places by the end of the afternoon.
Tomorrow will start off very sunny in many places, but during the day new clouds will move in from the northeast. The Northern and Western Alps should take into account some snow showers above 800 to 1000 meters in the afternoon and evening, especially in the French Southern Alps could be a bit heavier. I also expect a higher snowline here.
Changeable weather
Also on Sunday and Monday, the Alps will continue to experience snow showers due to this northeasterly flow. Austria in particular will have to deal with snow showers above 800 to 1200 meters and on Sunday morning possibly even a bit lower. Tirol and the Salzburgerland could see a total of 10 to 20 centimetres of snow by Tuesday morning. The Southern Alps can also enjoy some snowfall above 1500 meters on Sunday and Monday. Especially the southern areas close to the Po Valley will have to deal with this precipitation.
Back to spring?
Slowly but surely the Alps are coming out of the winter cold. In the GFS ensemble for Innsbruck you can see that temperatures are slowly climbing back to normal values for the time of year. In the precipitation signal of the graph you can see that the Alps will have to deal with some precipitation almost every day. A prolonged dry and warm period is certainly not in the weather charts and higher up it remains wintry. The snow will just not fall into the valleys anymore, as it did here in Innsbruck the last few days.
Last weather forecast of the season
This was already the last wePowder weather report of this crazy winter season. For weather related questions you can always reach me through the forum in the coming weeks, but the weather reports in this form will return in autumn. To be able to bring the weather forecasts to a higher level next year, I would love to receive some feedback. You can do that in a comment below, but of course you can also just send me a PM.
Finally, I want to thank you all, both the faithful followers that unfortunately didn’t make it to the Alps this winter as well as the lucky ones who were in the Alps, very much for following the weather reports. I’m already looking forward to start with the weather updates for the next season. Lets hope it will be a normal winter with the familiar PowderAlerts and the many stunning live images from you. A winter where everyone can enjoy the deep powder days again. A winter with all of us together!
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!
Replies
WHAT A WINTER. It was truly bizarre and Covid lockdowns added up to the complexity. Locked areas. Stillstand in lifts. Etc etc …
I follow you since many seasons…
Being based in Vienna, we are somewhat min 2-3 hours drives far away from the typical hotspots. Thus we are used to study wisely where to go. North or south or centrally 🤩
We took a lot of effort, studying the models and it was well rewarded with lots of Champagne and deep powder.
We follow many sources but I’d like to point out that you guys have such a clear and nice way to “navigate” powder-enthusiasts to the “sweet spots”.❄️
We purchased the WePowder Guide - not because we felt we “needed to learn” more about the resorts but because we want to show our appreciation to all the work you do!
THANK you!
There is nothing in balance where I’d suggest improvement.
Please continue just as you did.
We are looking forward to following you again next season and wish you an awesome and hopefully travel-friendly summer ☀️
Lorenz & the Vienna pack
Thanks for your forecasts during this winter for the books. Wishing you and the team a healthy summer and look forward to your updates in the late autumn. Lets hope 21/22 beings as much snow as this season. Perhaps less of the wind, a safer base and no Sahara sand would be nice too ;)
Suggestions. Avi casualties this season have almost doubled the average in CH this season :( Perhaps some more info what to look out for in your forecasts would help those that are not paying too much attention to the bulletins on a daily basis. Or perhaps encourage your users to post observations. Might reduce one or two tragedies a season.
Take care
rich
Thanks for your forecast! i enjoyed some good day in french alps with your advice!
Thanks for providing us with the stoke as you guys put it, couldn’t have been easy for you! Next year will be better.
Many thanks!
Thomas
As always. great info/updates/pics and video’s.
i was one of the many thousands who had trips cancelled due to this awful CV19 situation. i pray for normality asap and to ride the mountains again… until next time…
Keep up the good work, the way you stand out vs all other forecasters is with giving great tips where the best powder is, taking into account the Avalanche risk as well. Like this year with the large dumps in January, the best resorts to ski powder wasn’t were the most snow was falling aka avalanche risk 4 or 5 but a bit lower down the mountain with more shallower faces and more tree cover. All other snow forecasters only talk about the amount of snow not the conditions you might get.
It was a great powder year, if you were lucky enough to be in Switzerland! In fact I will be skiing next week in fresh powder in Engelberg, since it will be open until May 24!
Thanks a lot for this season’s forecasts ! Please continue next year, hoping we can access the mountains again. We all need it ! Thanks again and enjoy the summer.