There has been heavy snowfall on higher slopes in the Alps this weekend, with Austrian glaciers appearing to get the biggest accumulations so far.
The forecast snowfall has resulted from a cold front moving across central Europe, bringing snow above 1500 metres in places.
About half a dozen glacier ski areas are currently open in Austria, Italy and Switzerland with today the last day of the summer ski season at Les 2 Alpes, the only area currently open in France.
Up to 35cm of snow was forecast to fall by Monday morning at Hintertux, which reports 30cm of fresh snow so far this morning. So it looks like a summer powder day there when the weather clears.
The unusual weather is not all good news in the Alps though, the leading resort of Saalbach Hinterglemm had an emergency evacuation a few days ago as flash floods hit.
This was the resort of Obertauern in Salzburgerland, which opens in November with one of the longest seasons for a non-glacier resort in Austria:
Weather conditions are expected to return to normal for the time of year over the next week.
(Stubai glacier – opening next month – pictured above this morning, Hintertux – open for skiing and boarding now – below)
