Although it’s a little too early for certainty, a succession of storms is forecast to bring five consecutive days of snow to the Alps, with accumulations of over a metre possible in popular resorts.
Forecasters expect temperatures to plummet from Sunday and that the new snow will mean some lower altitude resorts will be back to the seasonal average or better for the time of year, catching back up after the unusually mild period of weather in Europe at the end of December 2022 and early January 2023.
Whilst higher altitude resorts with extensive skiing above 1800m such as Val d’ Isere (pictured top earlier this week), Courchevel, Zermatt and Solden have all enjoyed ample snow cover since the start of the season, lower resorts popular with British skiers such as Morzine in the Portes du Soleil and Megeve have suffered an unusually difficult start to the season with rain at times to higher elevations than usual in winter.
(Austria’s Skiwelt earlier this week)
Forecasters suggest it will be these lower-lying French resorts most in need of snow that will be among the biggest beneficiaries of next week’s storms, though most resorts in France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy will see significant snow by the end of the week.
The most optimistic forecasts at present have Megeve in France receiving 123cm (over four feet) of fresh snowfall on higher slopes by the end of next week. Chamonix, Courmayeur and Val d’ Isere are all expected to receive about the same 1.2 metres/4 feet of fresh snowfall. Morzine and Verbier are hopefully set for around 70cm and further east in Obergurgl its 40cm.
“After a tricky start to the season in places, the snow we are expecting next week will be a game-changer and an enormous relief to lower-lying resorts impacted by the recent mild weather. We have a stormy, snowy week coming up, but when the skies clear the conditions will be incredible and set most resorts up perfectly for the season ahead,” commented Ski Solutions Managing Director, Craig Burton, who added,
“Booking demand in recent weeks has been concentrated towards higher altitude destinations in the Alps and Norway, but with all resorts set to benefit from this snow, we are preparing ourselves for an avalanche of bookings in the next few days.”
We have a regular Podcast called The White Out where we review the latest gear, talk about the latest snow forecast and updates on where is best to ski now, as well interviews with absolute ski legends AND we spotlight a resort every week and so much more. You can check out our regular podcast here Apple | Spotify | Podcasts or search The White Out on your chosen podcast directory.
