Avoriaz 28 Jan

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Patrick Thorne

28 Jan 19

Up To 70cm of Fresh Snow Falls in 24 Hours in the Alps

Patrick Thorne

28 Jan 19

There’s been heavy snowfall again in the Alps this week.

A fortnight after the three weeks of heavy snow that brought the Eastern Alps (Austria, Germany and Eastern Switzerland) to a standstill, this time it’s the turn of the Western Alps, France and Western Switzerland in particular, to get the big dumps.

The biggest 24 hour accumulation reported so far is at the small resort of Cordon in the Northern French Alps with 70cm (2 feet, 4 inches) of snowfall.

Les Marécottes – Salvan in the Swiss Valais region over the border has posted the second biggest at 65cm (2 feet, 2 inches).

Morzine and Avoriaz has had the most snow of the internationally well-known areas with 50cm (20 inches) overnight.  Most other big name French resorts have had at least a foot (30cm) of snowfall so far too though.

Here’s a report from Ski Famille in Les Gets.

There's been heavy snow in the Alps! Dave is here with a snow update from Chalet Chats Bleus' balcony in Les Gets❄️

Posted by Ski Famille on Monday, 28 January 2019

The avalanche danger level has been raised to 4, one below the highest possible, meaning the off-piste avalanche danger is very great.

The snow has been falling over a much wider area however.  World Cup races in Germany at Garmisch Partenkirchen and the famous Hahnenkamm races in Kitzbuhel were disrupted at the weekend by heavy snowfall further East too.

It’s expected to remain snowy for the week ahead with some French and Swiss resorts likely to see a metre of snow by next weekend.