PA#6: Half a meter of snow in the Northwest Alps

By Henri on 20 February 2022 · 7

A changeable week awaits for the Northern Alps. Until Tuesday, there will be two heavy snow phases that will bring a total of 30 to 50 centimetres of snow to the north-western Alps, but even after that, there will still be some snowy events.

Still mild today

The weather forecasts on wePowder are powdered by our friends from Ortovox

Because the Alps are in the warm sector between the warm- and cold front, today is still quite mild. At the northern edge of the Alps it remains cloudy and some snow may fall now and then, but further inland the sun shines abundantly, especially in Austria. In the southern Alps, too, the day was sunny again today.

Cold front tonight

After this beautiful day, a cold front with snow will soon follow from the northwest in the northwestern Alps. The fierce cold front will pass quickly, but the snow will continue to fall due to the persistent northwesterly flow. In the course of Monday, this snowfall intensifies again due to a short-wave trough. The flow will turn slightly more to the north, which will allow Austria to benefit more from this snowfall. Here, it will snow until Tuesday afternoon. With these two snow phases, 30 to 50 centimetres of snow could fall from the French Northern Alps to the Arlberg, with possible peaks in Central Switzerland (e.g. Engelberg). In Austria (apart from Vorarlberg) I expect 10 to 40 centimetres of snow with most around the Dachstein massif.

With the passing of the cold front the wind will increase a lot, especially higher up. Wind gusts of over 120 kilometres per hour are again possible in exposed areas. Only in the course of Tuesday, the wind will decrease in strength, but with the fairly large amounts of fresh snow, it will again be necessary to watch out for wind slabs.

The snow line will drop below 1000 metres on Monday morning and may drop to 600 metres in calm conditions without too much wind. In the course of Tuesday, the snowline could rise a few hundred meters, but due to increasing high pressure from the west, most of the snowfall will be over by then. Especially for the French Northern Alps and Switzerland, Tuesday will be a beautiful day with lots of sun and fresh snow.

Next snowfall on Tuesday night

This weather improvement will not last long, because Tuesday night snow will again come from the northwest. This time, the focus will be more in Austria. It will probably snow 5 to 15 centimetres, but the snowline might be 1200 metres or even higher. The rest of Wednesday and Thursday will be quiet. Wednesday it clears from the west, but on Thursday we might have to deal with more high clouds. Friday it looks like the Northwest Alps will get snow again, but the details are not completely known yet.

Comments

• 
  aejmil op 22 February 2022 · 16:57

  Are we getting any snow in the via lattea area this season? 😞 any expectations?
• 
  MrGigigigia op 22 February 2022 · 21:22

  coool
  im in axalp , switzerland for the rest of the season and more. would love to meet people and ride off piste and backcountry.
• 
  MrGigigigia op 22 February 2022 · 21:22

  coool
  im in axalp , switzerland for the rest of the season and more. would love to meet people and ride off piste and backcountry.
• 

  Advanced
  morfologus op 23 February 2022 · 11:21

  Are we getting any snow in the via lattea area this season? 😞 any expectations?aejmil op 22 Feb 2022 16:57
  Many of us are praying for it. Hopefully March will be better.
  *message edited by morfologus op 23 Feb 2022 11:21
• 
  aejmil op 23 February 2022 · 15:06

  Are we getting any snow in the via lattea area this season? 😞 any expectations?aejmil op 22 Feb 2022 16:57
  Many of us are praying for it. Hopefully March will be better.morfologus op 23 Feb 2022 11:21
  
  Are you there right now? If thats the case - hows the situation? I'm going in a couple of weeks.
• 

  Advanced
  morfologus op 24 February 2022 · 12:21

  Are we getting any snow in the via lattea area this season? 😞 any expectations?aejmil op 22 Feb 2022 16:57
  Many of us are praying for it. Hopefully March will be better.morfologus op 23 Feb 2022 11:21
  
  Are you there right now? If thats the case - hows the situation? I'm going in a couple of weeks.aejmil op 23 Feb 2022 15:06
  If you have the flexibility I suggest you to drive north/west to find better conditions but who knows what's gonna happen in a couple of weeks.
• 
  aejmil op 24 February 2022 · 13:45

  Are we getting any snow in the via lattea area this season? 😞 any expectations?aejmil op 22 Feb 2022 16:57
  Many of us are praying for it. Hopefully March will be better.morfologus op 23 Feb 2022 11:21
  
  Are you there right now? If thats the case - hows the situation? I'm going in a couple of weeks.aejmil op 23 Feb 2022 15:06
  If you have the flexibility I suggest you to drive north/west to find better conditions but who knows what's gonna happen in a couple of weeks. morfologus op 24 Feb 2022 12:21
  
  I dont have the flexibility this time unfortunately, so lets hope for some snow!

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