The Alps, Current and Future

[strauch67]

Good news. The week seems to be good for Alpine region of Italy. LP developing on the Genoa Gulf (Genoa Low) will produce heavy snow-falls expecially in the NE regions (Dolomites). Starting at 1200 mt down to flat land at the end. This will be follow by low T (-15 at 850 hPa). Let winter begin

ciao

[carinthian]

Good news. The week seems to be good for Alpine region of Italy. LP developing on the Genoa Gulf (Genoa Low) will produce heavy snow-falls expecially in the NE regions (Dolomites). Starting at 1200 mt down to flat land at the end. This will be follow by low T (-15 at 850 hPa). Let winter begin

ciao

Hello,

Enjoy. It has been a long wait. I will drink as well!

C

[J10]

Hopefully this will produce a good base for lower resorts, whihc have been a little starved so far this season.

[strauch67]

This is how it looks the final "schuss" of the female giant slalom in Cortina. Second manche is on the way

http://www.dolomiti.org/ita/Cortina/cmet/c...mages/cam48.jpg

[Polar Bear]

Mountain weather, particularly in large Massifs, has a character all of its own. In all but the very largest frontal systems falls can vary significantly from place to place. There's actually NO reason for 1850 (which is actually at about 1762 or so as I recall) and 1650 to get differing amounts of falling snow other than because of height. When I was there in March last year we had snow falling at 1850 and were in rain down at 1550 three or four minutes later. I've certainly known situations when Val d'Isere (maybe 15 miles away as the crow flies) had a foot of snow and "le plus grand domaine skiable..." had diddly squat. Much depends on wind direction and both Val D'Isere and Val Tho are favoured by being at valley heads: Courchevel and Meribel have valley side locations. There tends to be more mixing across ridges and hence, over a long time, average precipitation is higher.

The one occasion when there can be notable variation tends to be in convective situations; often into spring, when warm air from the valley is producing cloud below the peaks farabove. It can be snowing steadily in the cloud, but but not snowing out of, or below. There's been plenty of occasions when I've skied in 2-3" of fresh snow at the tops, whilst in resort there's been nothing.

Hey startos ferric

thanks for the explanation...very interesting and educational..am getting what you are saying..fascinating stuff. Wish I kind knew abit more before I headed out there..oh well another time peraps..you not heading out this year then?

PB

PS here is a useful link for those interested in the three valley areas.

http://www.snoweye.com/?page=fr-savoie-3v&...tail=courchevel

Edited January 22, 2007 by Polar Bear

[carinthian]

Morning ,

A bit colder today. Temps still above zero. The latest 3 day prog forecasts snowfall with max temp of -10c on Wednesday at the 1600m in the village and -16c at 2200m on the top of Katschberg Mountain.

Good news for JH , snow and blizzards for Wengen by Tuesday.

C

Morning all,

Heavy fall of snow last night (25 cm) Snowfall forecast to continue into Wednesday with temps continue to fall. Snow ploughs will be working overtime to keep the mountain road open as some big drifts are developing.

C

[Red Raven]

Im in the Dolomites at the moment and we have had contstant snowfall since 7pm last night (about 450mm at lower stations and 750 on tops). Forecast to continue snowing for the next 24 hours. The snow is heavz (italian kezboards wont let me tzpe a whz!!!!!!) and wet with the temperature just above freezing. But still skiing in knee deep snow at the higher stations.

[Polar Bear]

Morning all,

Heavy fall of snow last night (25 cm) Snowfall forecast to continue into Wednesday with temps continue to fall. Snow ploughs will be working overtime to keep the mountain road open as some big drifts are developing.

C

hehe and apparently it is snowing in the three valleys!! last time was I think the 17th or 18th Jan...enjoy all!!..hope you get a decent dump..wish i was there!

[Polar Bear]

Mountain weather, particularly in large Massifs, has a character all of its own. In all but the very largest frontal systems falls can vary significantly from place to place. There's actually NO reason for 1850 (which is actually at about 1762 or so as I recall) and 1650 to get differing amounts of falling snow other than because of height. When I was there in March last year we had snow falling at 1850 and were in rain down at 1550 three or four minutes later. I've certainly known situations when Val d'Isere (maybe 15 miles away as the crow flies) had a foot of snow and "le plus grand domaine skiable..." had diddly squat. Much depends on wind direction and both Val D'Isere and Val Tho are favoured by being at valley heads: Courchevel and Meribel have valley side locations. There tends to be more mixing across ridges and hence, over a long time, average precipitation is higher.

The one occasion when there can be notable variation tends to be in convective situations; often into spring, when warm air from the valley is producing cloud below the peaks farabove. It can be snowing steadily in the cloud, but but not snowing out of, or below. There's been plenty of occasions when I've skied in 2-3" of fresh snow at the tops, whilst in resort there's been nothing.

Hey Stratus

Just a quickie and I hope you dont mind..I have a friend still out in Courcheval..when enquiring about the weather someone told him that the patterns follow similar lines in new york...... .......hmmm..not sure on that one but what do you reckon?

PB

[Stratos Ferric]

Hey Stratus

Just a quickie and I hope you dont mind..I have a friend still out in Courcheval..when enquiring about the weather someone told him that the patterns follow similar lines in new york...... .......hmmm..not sure on that one but what do you reckon?

PB

Not sure what he means by that, but even so, I'm afraid my response is "total twaddle". If he means New York State and the uplands there then it's possible, but less likely because the massif there is much lower. If he means New York City then I fail to see what weather link there could possibly be. There is an old wives' tale, that does the rounds perenially (usually most virulent when it's cold in NY and mild here) to the effect that cold air in the states arrives here two weeks later. In a way it does (in fact in much less than two weeks as it happens), but by the time it's got here it's anything but mild, having crossed 4000 or so miles of warm water.

Re your earlier qq: I'll be going out at some point. I never book until closer to the time: it guarantees better snow / weather and avoids having to pay brochure price. NEVER pay brochure price for a skiing holiday.

[strauch67]

On the Dolomites ski slopes fresh snow from 25 cm up to 100 cm (Val Zoldana). It's not clear, at the moment, for how long it will keep on snowing. It seems that tomorrow will stop but there is a chance that the occlusion will form a secondary minimun in the Gulf of Venice (know as Venice Low). This will be good for other snowfalls in the region.

Only above 1800 mt the fresh snow is "dry", below that it's humid and heavy.

Ciao

[carinthian]

Morning all,

Heavy fall of snow last night (25 cm) Snowfall forecast to continue into Wednesday with temps continue to fall. Snow ploughs will be working overtime to keep the mountain road open as some big drifts are developing.

C

Evening all,

Another 40 cm fallen since 8am. Now becoming a problem. Knee deep with huge drifts forming ( 6 feet ) Still snowing and drifting.

C

[carinthian]

Evening all,

Another 40 cm fallen since 8am. Now becoming a problem. Knee deep with huge drifts forming ( 6 feet ) Still snowing and drifting.

C

Morning all,

A massive 80 cm of fresh snow fallen in 2 days in the village at 1650m asl. Still snowing.

C

[Red Raven]

Snow stopped todaz in the Dolomites and we had sun for the morning. Snow is starting agian and the temperature has dropped to -8 at 1500m and -15 at 2200m. Snow is 40 cm - 75 cm.

[carinthian]

Morning all,

A massive 80 cm of fresh snow fallen in 2 days in the village at 1650m asl. Still snowing.

C

hELLO,

Another 5 cm overnight. A very cold grey start. Light snow falling. Temperature currently -14C.

C

[SMU]

hELLO,

Another 5 cm overnight. A very cold grey start. Light snow falling. Temperature currently -14C.

C

Grab some nice pics for us Carinth...

Enjoy the Snow & the Skiing...

S

[carinthian]

hELLO,

Another 5 cm overnight. A very cold grey start. Light snow falling. Temperature currently -14C.

C

Hello,

The snow just continues. My wife measured 90cm in the garden this morning and outside temperature of -11C. The snow on the mountain is too deep for ski-ing today ! The Austrian Met forecast cold and snow into next week-- sorry, thanks to the UK high and Scandninavian Low ...must go and book a flight to Salzburg.

Cheers

C

[carinthian]

Hello,

The snow just continues. My wife measured 90cm in the garden this morning and outside temperature of -11C. The snow on the mountain is too deep for ski-ing today ! The Austrian Met forecast cold and snow into next week-- sorry, thanks to the UK high and Scandninavian Low ...must go and book a flight to Salzburg.

Cheers

C

Snowfall all day in the Hohe Tauren. Very cold. Temp now -13C.

C

[Red Raven]

I've just returned from a fantastic snowy dolomite landscape. It snowed for most of the week with the odd sunny day which was a big contrast to the saturday we arrived and were met with slushy brown pistes and temperatures in double figures - now its in double minus figures. There has been so much snow that the Val Gardena pass was closed earlier today - looks like the season has done a completer U turn.

[Red Raven]

Corvara - some pictures

On the Sunday before the change.

... and a few days later....

[carinthian]

Snowfall all day in the Hohe Tauren. Very cold. Temp now -13C.

C

Morning Report from Katschberg Mountain.. Clear skies now and much lighter winds. Current temp -5C, not as cold as recent days. Should be a great day ski-ing for some lucky soles !

C

[carinthian]

Morning Report from Katschberg Mountain.. Clear skies now and much lighter winds. Current temp -5C, not as cold as recent days. Should be a great day ski-ing for some lucky soles !

C

Morning,

Great conditions on the mountain this morning. Sunny skies, temps around freezing and perfect snow for ski-ing. Quite a few day trippers already.

C

[carinthian]

Morning,

Great conditions on the mountain this morning. Sunny skies, temps around freezing and perfect snow for ski-ing. Quite a few day trippers already.

C

Hi all,

Great ski-ing conditions today. Plenty of pisted runs and almost spring like weather. Sunny and fairly mild at 5C this afternoon. Freezing now the sun has gone. Thursday is night ski-ing night followed by lager !

c

[carinthian]

Hi all,

Great ski-ing conditions today. Plenty of pisted runs and almost spring like weather. Sunny and fairly mild at 5C this afternoon. Freezing now the sun has gone. Thursday is night ski-ing night followed by lager !

c

Morning,

Even by Austrian standards, this has been a mild winter. Last year was one of the coldest and snowiest in our region (Hohe Tauren ) for over 20 years. Anyway not a cloud in the sky this morning above Katschberg Mountain, temp went down to -5C. should get above freezing later this morning. Snow conditions very good with now prolonged retention above 1200m.

C

[carinthian]

Morning,

Even by Austrian standards, this has been a mild winter. Last year was one of the coldest and snowiest in our region (Hohe Tauren ) for over 20 years. Anyway not a cloud in the sky this morning above Katschberg Mountain, temp went down to -5C. should get above freezing later this morning. Snow conditions very good with now prolonged retention above 1200m.

C

Hi,

After a sunny crisp start to the day, clouded over this afternoon. Feels warm. Reports of melting again from the lower resorts in the region.

C