Forecast

Yesterday, Chris discussed the snowfall in detail. In the past 48 hours, it has snowed a lot higher up. All in all, these are serious amounts that will become the base for the season.

The webcams and precipitation measurements confirm this morning what the weather models had already predicted: in the French and Swiss Alps, 20 to over 60 mm of precipitation has fallen on a large scale.

We can now provide more details regarding the snow forecast for this exciting week. The main news remains that the Western Alps will receive two significant snowfalls. However, these snowfalls will start with a relatively high snow line, which means the final accumulation below 1800 meters might be disappointing, especially in France.

We have been looking forward to it for at least a week, and it is almost here: polar air and depressions are moving south and reaching the Alps. The details about snowfall, wind, and temperature will still change regularly due to the limited predictability of the cold-air depressions.

We can finally enjoy winter scenes from the Alps again. Unfortunately, this cosmetic layer will disappear below 2000 meters in the coming days due to milder air, while it will remain relatively cold in Austria for a bit longer.

As Henri already indicated in the previous forecast, the dominance of high-pressure areas is coming to an end, making way for some Alpine weather action. Between a powerful high-pressure area near Ireland and another one over Russia, a weak disturbance will move from the North Sea over the BeNeLux and France to Spain in the coming days.

The end of persitent and very mild high-pressure weather is in sight! The weather models are working on something nice for next week, but how exactly it will turn out is hard to say at this point.

Except for the extreme rainfall in France and Spain, there has been little to report for a week, especially in the Alps. A powerful high-pressure area over Central Europe brings mild and dry weather.

The days are quickly getting shorter and almost all glacier ski areas are open. The snow situation is better than last autumn, but these areas are still relying on the snow that fell in September and early October.

Between reviving depressions over the Atlantic and high pressure over the eastern Mediterranean, a humid and very mild southwesterly flow has developed. This has caused a lot of precipitation in recent days, with regional flooding once again.