Increasingly changeable next week, finally snow for the Northwestern Alps?

By Henri on 2 March 2023 · 13

The new month started in the southern regions of Piedmont the way February ended: with fresh snow. Locally, the amounts were already staggering, but since yesterday afternoon it has started snowing again. In the coming days, it will remain mainly dry, but a transition to a north-westerly flow early next week and a weakening high-pressure blocking will cause increasing changeability.

Snow in Piedmont

In areas such as Prali and further south, snowfall last night brought about 20-30 centimetres. At the moment it is still snowing a bit, but during the day the snowfall will decrease again. Tomorrow, the flow temporarily turns to the northeast, meaning the northern Alps will again face more cloud cover. This may include some light snow, but it will not bring much anyway. Saturday the sun returns, but on Sunday new clouds with some light snow will follow from the north.

Northwesterly flow

For next week, the weather models are now showing interesting calculations. Increasing low pressure over northern Italy may first bring some snow in the south-eastern Alps on Monday, but the real work seems to be following for the (north) western Alps for several days already. First of all with the depression we see over the North Sea in the map above. The core is deepening considerably and cold air is flowing into central Europe on the western side of the depression. Whether the Alps will also be affected is not yet certain, but quite a bit of snow could possibly start falling in the French Alps and west side of the Swiss Alps from Tuesday, but for details on this snowfall it is still too early.

In the following days too, the changeability seems to persist. With no high-pressure blockade to our west, Atlantic depressions can reach the Alps more easily. How exactly this will happen and what it yields is still uncertain, for instance the snowline could possibly still be a tricky thing in this succession of depressions from the west, but at least it is good news for the north-western Alps, which can expect quite a bit of fresh snow in this weather setting. The ensemble for Geneva shows well why I cannot going into details yet. With the increasing variability (see the precipitation signal), the spread of the ensemble also increases considerably. Other models also still show some differences.

Read also:

• What is a Sudden Stratospheric Warming?
• What is an ensemble forecast?
• What are low- and high pressure areas?
• What is a northstau/nordstau?
• What is a southstau/südstau?
• What is föhn?
• What is a retour d'Est?
• What is the jet stream?

Comments

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  Advanced
  LiBTech1978 op 2 March 2023 · 19:18

  Seems soon spring on its way, maybe next winter will be with more powder
• 

  Beginner
  Henri op 2 March 2023 · 21:47

  There will be still enough moments with powder @LiBTech1978, also in March and April! And if it remains dry and sunny for a longer period, we can enjoy some good firn. March and April are the best months for ski touring 😉
  *message edited by Henri op 2 Mar 2023 21:48 (8% bewerkt)
• 
  aoal op 2 March 2023 · 21:49

  Really longing for powder next week!
• 

  Advanced
  LiBTech1978 op 3 March 2023 · 07:55

  There will be still enough moments with powder @LiBTech1978, also in March and April! And if it remains dry and sunny for a longer period, we can enjoy some good firn. March and April are the best months for ski touring 😉 Henri op 2 Mar 2023 21:47
  
  Thanks @Henri for reply, I was really thinking that best days for pow are February
• 

  Advanced
  Camusch op 3 March 2023 · 12:39

  Seems soon spring on its way, maybe next winter will be with more powder LiBTech1978 op 2 Mär 2023 19:18
  
  I remember 2 or 3 seasons ago, I had the best pow days for more than 1 week middle of March in the Kitzbühler Alpen area which are not very high (2000 meters). We always can be lucky and get amazing pow also in March and in low alpine areas. Unfortunately that is not the standard.
• 

  Advanced
  Chris_Grove op 3 March 2023 · 13:18

  Just want to say thank you to the guys at wepowder. After a shitty few weeks I saw the forecast for Italian Piemonte region and booked a trip, only 3 hours from chamonix where I’m staying for the season and we skied blower powder for 3 days. 200cm fell over 3 days and it was the deepest days of my life. reminder that your not far from a storm in the alps. I think snow forecast website forecast 5cm on one of the days and it actually snowed 50-70cm 😂. Shows how accurate this website is 👌 cheers. You can checkout images and videos on @supersweetsends on insta.
• 

  Expert
  Chester_Tartsnatcher op 3 March 2023 · 15:35

  After so many storms have fizzled out for CH, my hopes are suspicious. I have a lot riding my decision to come to the Alps from the US. There appears to be some hope for north Graubunden, but little for South Graubunden, Engadin or Ticino.

  EuroBBI2023 Rueras, CH March 26-31
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  ecsjones op 3 March 2023 · 16:10

  We arrived yesterday in Italy from nyc. Piemonte. We had every option to cancel but it we finally rolled the dice. This am was quite good, deep and dry. Solid 1st day. Afternoon warmed up. Now we stay here this weekend and then move to where he next storm will hit properly. 10 days of riding
• 

  Beginner
  Jonas Vad op 4 March 2023 · 07:50

  When will we get the next update?
  Curious on where to go for next week
• 

  Advanced
  LiBTech1978 op 4 March 2023 · 09:52

  Seems soon spring on its way, maybe next winter will be with more powder LiBTech1978 op 2 Mär 2023 19:18
  
  I remember 2 or 3 seasons ago, I had the best pow days for more than 1 week middle of March in the Kitzbühler Alpen area which are not very high (2000 meters). We always can be lucky and get amazing pow also in March and in low alpine areas. Unfortunately that is not the standard.Camusch op 3 Mar 2023 12:39
  
  Yes I understand, but when you live from area 2000km away it’s really hard to plan something (
• 

  Beginner
  Henri op 4 March 2023 · 22:20

  When will we get the next update?
  Curious on where to go for next week Jonas Vad op 4 Mar 2023 07:50
  Tomorrow!
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  Chris F op 5 March 2023 · 17:07

  Any concerns about freezing levels next week? A couple of degrees either way will make a big difference between fresh snow and torrential rain.
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  ecsjones op 6 March 2023 · 17:06

  After so many storms have fizzled out for CH, my hopes are suspicious. I have a lot riding my decision to come to the Alps from the US. There appears to be some hope for north Graubunden, but little for South Graubunden, Engadin or Ticino.Chester_Tartsnatcher op 3 Mar 2023 15:35
  Chester. Here in the French alps now from the US. We gambled with a sure thing in the west and decided to not pull the plug on our annual pilgrimage. We lived here for 3 seasons up until 19 and moved back to US.
  We arrived Thursday am last week and chased to southern Italian alps. Great call. Sweet fresh powder day to start the trip Friday. Got warm Saturday and fried the snow. Still fun but going south quickly. We left there and are now in the French alps. Again fully rolling the dice but is looking risky. Rode today and it’s worse that I thought it could’ve been. They need 6-8 feet asap here and without rain down low. We love the area and love the experience but this area is hurting. Unless they get on a serious roll I would seriously think west.

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