The weather in the Alps was quite interesting the last two weeks. It all started with snow in the northern Alps, but it soon became one-way traffic from the south. This resulted in a Föhn in the northern and western Alps and a lot of precipitation on the south side of the Alps. It’s time to see what the results are and the differences are huge.
The weather is not dictated by national borders. The highest peaks in the Alps make the difference in nature. It can snow a lot on one side of the mountain, but there can be a strong Föhn on the other side. Read more about that in this article. This phenomenon occurred in the Alps in the last two weeks.
Northern Föhn (= dry and mild air) in the north and west of the Alps and southern stau (= relatively cool and lots of precipitation) on the south side of the Alps. This precipitation often climbs just over the main alpine ridge (because the supplied air is relatively warm), and as a result it not only snows on the south side of the main alpine ridge, but also in the glacier areas in or just north of the main alpine ridge. The result is a great start of the winter in parts of the high alpine of the Alps.
Great start high alpine in the southern Alps and the main alpine ridge
Pictures and videos are better than words. The conditions in northwestern Italy are already good above 2000 to 2400 meters. The first ski tours were made in Sestrière.
There’s also a lot of snow in Serre Chevalier on the French side of the border.
They’ve been grooming the slopes in Prali, close to Torino.
A lot of snow came down around the Monte Rosa massif as well. You can find a great base for the start of the season here.
They are working hard on the Corvatsch (just above St. Moritz) to have everything ready for the opening on November 25th.
The conditions are also great on the Austrian glaciers.
Waiting for snow in the northern Alps
In the meantime, there is absolutely no question of winter to the west and north of the main alpine ridge. There’s no precipitation in the forecast and only you can only find some snow on the highest peaks. There is still no question of winter and there are still some storms that need to bring snow to create a base. It was even to warm to produce technical snow the last couple of weeks.
No precipitation this week
There is no snow on the maps for the coming week. It is dry and the nights are clear. It is possible that this period of drought will last even longer than a week. You can read all about this here.