The Alps Snow thread Season 2013-14

[carinthian]

Hi all,With this talk of a pattern change emerging around mid month here in the ok to a quieter spell....is this comfy from high pressure building over Europe?? I'm off skiing to morzine south east of France last week of feb. would be nice to see some snow falling from the sky!! Just wondered what pattern is emerging for this area?? Any help guys??Thanks

 

Hi,

 We have just a massive snowfall in the Eastern Alps and more to come over the next 7 days or so over the Alps fairly widely. Beyond that it looks like pressure will be higher over the French Alps, so will make for some fantastic ski-ing conditions during the week starting 22/2/14.

[WINTRY WALES]

Hi,

 We have just a massive snowfall in the Eastern Alps and more to come over the next 7 days or so over the Alps fairly widely. Beyond that it looks like pressure will be higher over the French Alps, so will make for some fantastic ski-ing conditions during the week starting 22/2/14.

Hi Carinthian,

 

Thank you for the reply! Haha not what i wanted to hear really....glad about the recent snow falls but was hoping to see some myself when I visited. I do love skiing when its falling from the sky. Never mind cant grumble it will be a change from the persisant rain we have all had to put up with over here!! 

 

Thanks

[carinthian]

Hi Carinthian,

 

Thank you for the reply! Haha not what i wanted to hear really....glad about the recent snow falls but was hoping to see some myself when I visited. I do love skiing when its falling from the sky. Never mind cant grumble it will be a change from the persisant rain we have all had to put up with over here!! 

 

Thanks

Yep, still along way off, so you may still get your wish. I prefer sparkling blue skies these days and snow falling at night. However, I can understand your love of ski-ing during snowfall, but whatever the weather, I am sure you will have a nice time in a very good resort and certainly will not miss the rain !

[Blessed Weather]

What a shame - looks a frustrating time for lower resorts. Below for example is Mayrhofen. Top picture is today, 11th Feb, and the lower picture is the day before. Whilst snowfall after snowfall is seeing good depths build at higher levels, runs back to the villages at the 700 to 800 metres level are clearly suffering from the milder incursions the current westerly sourced weather is delivering. Hopefully there's still some great skiing to be had on the slopes above the villages!

 

 

[Blessed Weather]

Just to put a more positive spin on my post above, I've spent an hour today looking at lots of webcams around lower resorts and whilst the villages might be a bit thin on snow, there is indeed plenty of great looking pistes and skiing to be enjoyed above the villages. And no doubt aided by artificial snow making, it also looks like the runs back to resorts are being maintained. 

 

Anyway, another good fall of snow moving into the Alps as I type. Some heavy bursts, judging by the intensity of the ppn shown on the GFS 06z run today:

 

The 850 hpa chart indicates the 0c isotherm will be above 1,000 metres. 

 

[J10]

A bit busy this weekend so will not be able to post a full forecast. However I will put up some sort of look ahead tomorrow.

 

However I have posted the usual summary from Snow Forecast / Ski Club GB and in the next post will put up snow depths.

 

SNOW NEWS UPDATED 13 FEBRUARY 2014

 

INTRODUCTION Lots of fresh snow fell across Europe over the weekend, with powder on and off piste in many resorts in France.

 

AUSTRIA It was a reasonably dry and sunny week, with good piste conditions on offer in most places. Lech (95/100cm) has good snow on and off piste, although not a huge base depth. The best of the snow is higher up as usual but with snow on the way this weekend conditions should improve again. The southern areas of the country have the best snow at the moment. Obergurgl (80/180cm) is one of these and they have a great base depth. The Ski Club leader in the resort at the moment spoke of lots of fresh snow over the weekend but sunnier weather since then.

 

FRANCE The conditions have further improved this week, and fresh snow was reported at over half of our featured skiing destinations on Thursday 13th February. La Rosiere (152/210cm), Chamonix/Argentiere (134/195cm) and Valmorel (76/148cm) received the greatest amount of fresh snow, reporting 20cm of fresh on Thursday morning. At Courchevel (125/110cm) the upper slope snow depth has dropped from 163cm to 110cm as a result of strong winds, and the upper slope depth is now less than that down at the 1850m. The snow cover is still superb though, providing excellent skiing and snowboarding. Strong winds did affect lift operations at some locations in Thursday. Flaine (115/320cm) offer fantastic skiing at the moment and there was fresh snow on the slopes on Thursday, but unfortunately only 9 out of 22 lifts were operating due to the strong winds at altitude. Villard de Lans (60/130cm) closed all lifts on Thursday due to the windy conditions.

 

SWITZERLAND Cloudy skies across the resorts on Thursday 13th February brought about the chance of fresh snow before the weekend. Some resorts were fortunate enough to receive new snow before lifts started turning on Thursday including Anzere (25/125cm), Crans Montana (20/196cm), Grimentz/Zinal (50/130cm), Gstaad (63/270cm), Les Diablerets (80/120cm), Leysin (90/145cm), Nendaz (60/160cm), Saas Fee (93/330cm), Verbier (45/145cm) and Villars (30/130cm). The snowfall was not deep in the morning, with only single figures of fresh reported, but any fresh snow is always welcome. Unfortunately strong winds limited lift operations at some resorts. The worst affected was Champery (120/160cm) which was closed for the day on Thursday due to the windfall of our featured resorts are forecast new snow over the weekend and into next week, from 26cm at Lenk up to almost 60cm at Zermatt by Friday 21st February.

 

ITALY Skiing is fantastic at the moment after one of the snowiest periods on their history, especially in the Dolomites. Some locals in the Dolomites say it could be the most snowfall in 300 years. Arabba (223/279cm) was operating 20 of its 29 lifts on Thursday and the mountain is covered in powder snow. Further west it's great too. Sauze d'Oulx (120/160cm) has excellent skiing according to the Ski Club leader based there and all the links to other resorts are open.

 

ANDORRA It was sunny in Andorra on Thursday 13th February. Around 10-15cm of snow fell at most resorts earlier this week, giving excellent skiing on and off piste. It's also colder than usual, with a temperature of -7C at Arcalis (100/200cm). Nearby Soldeu (90/200cm) also received fresh snow earlier this week. The Ski Club leader based there said the skiing was great on Wednesday.

 

GERMANY Good skiing exists although the best conditions can be found on the higher slopes. Lower down at Lenggries (20/60cm) the snow cover is mostly manmade snow. Higher up at Garmisch (80/190cm) and Oberstdorf (40/155cm) the snow is still very good, with over a metre of snow on the slopes. Reit im Winkl (5/100cm) also has good cover higher up although the snow depth is much shallower on the bottom slopes

 

BULGARIA Our featured Bulgarian resorts are still enjoying the fresh snow that fell at the beginning of last week. There has been no new snow at Bansko (30/100cm), Borovets (70/80cm) and Pamporovo (70/110cm) this weekend. However, mostly sunny skies during the week and decent on-piste skiing was on offer.

 

EUROPEAN WEATHER OUTLOOK A quite snowy weekend and week next week are expected in Europe, especially further east. Austrian resorts could receive up to 80cm of fresh snow throughout the period, at places like Ischgl and Obergurgl. French and Italian resorts should be a bit driver with more in the way of sunshine next week but with temperatures on the cool side.

Edited February 15, 2014 by J10

[J10]

 

Latest Snow Depths across the Alps

 

Quite a lot of new snow this week but struggling a bit low down in Mayrhofen.

		    Upper Lower			   Last 7	  Piste       OffResort Name piste piste  Last snowed    days    Quality	  Piste   Lifts OpenAlpe d'Huez 205cm 116cm 07 Feb (25cm)  53cm      Powder 	Powder  59 out of 70Tignes	  170cm  98cm 07 Feb (20cm)  37cm   Excellent     Powder  49 out of 79Wengen	  115cm  45cm 07 Feb (25cm)  38cm   Excellent     Varied  19 out of 19St Moritz   186cm 110cm 07 Feb ( 5cm)   5cm       Fresh      Fresh  20 out of 22Mayrhofen    80cm   0cm 28 Jan (10cm)   0cm        Good     Patchy  25 out of 25Cervinia    400cm 130cm 06 Feb (20cm)  25cm      Powder  Excellent   5 out of 14 

			 Upper Lower			   Last 7	  Piste       OffResort Name piste piste  Last snowed    days    Quality	  Piste   Lifts OpenAlpe d'Huez 220cm 115cm 14 Feb  (8cm)  53cm   Excellent  Excellent  15 out of 70Tignes	  190cm 110cm 13 Feb ( 5cm)  45cm   Excellent  Excellent  64 out of 79Wengen	  120cm  55cm 14 Feb (15cm)  30cm   Excellent   	Good  19 out of 19St Moritz   197cm 146cm 11 Feb ( 3cm)   8cm   Excellent     Varied  22 out of 22Mayrhofen    90cm   0cm 14 Feb (10cm)   0cm	   Fresh	 Patchy  25 out of 25Cervinia    300cm 220cm 14 Feb ( 5cm)  25cm   Excellent  Excellent  14 out of 14 

 

Good improvement in snow at most resorts, the exception being low down in Mayrhofen, but higher up conditions are far better.

 

It does some rather ironic that given such good conditions generally at snow resorts across Europe (including Scandinavia  and Scotland) , that the weather has been so warm in Sochi for the Winter Olympics.

[J10]

Synoptics

 

The general pattern of South Westerly winds for NW Europe is the current pattern with some low pressure over the Alps, with some heavy precipitation likely more especially for Austria, Northern Italy and initially for SE parts of Switzerland.

 

High Pressure seems set to build from the South East during Monday afternoon, lasting into Tuesday and after initial precipitation for Austria it should turn much drier over the Alps,

 

However the westerly pattern is set to resume from Wednesday until the weekend, with further period of precipitation., with Wednesday and Friday currently forecast to be the days with heaviest precipitation. Signs of things a bit colder around Friday, so snowfall more likely to resort level.

 

850HPa Temps

 

Western Alps – French Alps, Switzerland, Western half Italy and Germany Eastern Alps – Austria, Eastern half of Italy and Germany

Monday [West] +2c (SW) to -1c (NE) [East] +1c (SW) to -2c (Central and East) Tuesday [West] +7c (N) to +2c (S) [East] [West] +7c (N) to +2c (S) Wednesday [West] +3c (SE) to +1c (NW) [East] +4c (SE) to +2c (NW) Thursday [West] +3c (SW) to 0c (NW) [East] +2c (SW) to -2c (NE)Friday [West] +3c (SE) to -5c (NW) [East] +1c (SE) to -3c (NW)

Precipitation

 

Quite a lot of precipitation is forecast for areas on the Italy Austria border, with 100mm of rain, which could give as much as 100cm of snow, if the GFS forecast is correct. Much drier the further north you go in the Alps.

 

 

Quite a lot of precipitation is forecast for areas on the Italy Austria border, with 100mm of rain, which could give as much as 100cm of snow, if the GFS forecast is correct. Much drier the further north you go in the Alps.

 

Looking in more detail and much of the precipitation ifs forecast for the next 24 hrs with 50mm of precipitation possible for a wide swath of Southern/ Central  Austria and Northern Italy.

 

 

Snow levels range from 900m in Austria initially to 2000m in Italy, but steadily the snow level dropping this evening and overnight dropping further south to be around 1200m for Italian border areas, 1500m further south.

 

So a major snow event possible for much of Austria overnight and over higher resorts in Italy.

 

The precipitation on Wednesday is currently forecast to be above 2000m or so to start but dropping back to 1200m as colder air moves in later.

 

While the precipitation for Friday should fall as snow down to 1000m, and to lower levels again later.

 

Summary

 

Quite a snowy week in prospect for parts of Austria and Italy, turning drier and milder for a time midweek, before turning more unsettled from the North west towards the weekend and progressively colder.

Edited February 16, 2014 by J10

[WINTRY WALES]

Synoptics

 

The general pattern of South Westerly winds for NW Europe is the current pattern with some low pressure over the Alps, with some heavy precipitation likely more especially for Austria, Northern Italy and initially for SE parts of Switzerland.

 

High Pressure seems set to build from the South East during Monday afternoon, lasting into Tuesday and after initial precipitation for Austria it should turn much drier over the Alps,

 

However the westerly pattern is set to resume from Wednesday until the weekend, with further period of precipitation., with Wednesday and Friday currently forecast to be the days with heaviest precipitation. Signs of things a bit colder around Friday, so snowfall more likely to resort level.

 

850HPa Temps

 

Western Alps – French Alps, Switzerland, Western half Italy and Germany Eastern Alps – Austria, Eastern half of Italy and Germany

Monday [West] +2c (SW) to -1c (NE) [East] +1c (SW) to -2c (Central and East) Tuesday [West] +7c (N) to +2c (S) [East] [West] +7c (N) to +2c (S) Wednesday [West] +3c (SE) to +1c (NW) [East] +4c (SE) to +2c (NW) Thursday [West] +3c (SW) to 0c (NW) [East] +2c (SW) to -2c (NE)Friday [West] +3c (SE) to -5c (NW) [East] +1c (SE) to -3c (NW)

Precipitation

 

Quite a lot of precipitation is forecast for areas on the Italy Austria border, with 100mm of rain, which could give as much as 100cm of snow, if the GFS forecast is correct. Much drier the further north you go in the Alps.

 

Rmgfs120sum 16 Feb.gif

 

Quite a lot of precipitation is forecast for areas on the Italy Austria border, with 100mm of rain, which could give as much as 100cm of snow, if the GFS forecast is correct. Much drier the further north you go in the Alps.

 

Looking in more detail and much of the precipitation ifs forecast for the next 24 hrs with 50mm of precipitation possible for a wide swath of Southern/ Central  Austria and Northern Italy.

 

Rmgfs24sum.gif 14021712_1612.gif

 

Snow levels range from 900m in Austria initially to 2000m in Italy, but steadily the snow level dropping this evening and overnight dropping further south to be around 1200m for Italian border areas, 1500m further south.

 

So a major snow event possible for much of Austria overnight and over higher resorts in Italy.

 

The precipitation on Wednesday is currently forecast to be above 2000m or so to start but dropping back to 1200m as colder air moves in later.

 

While the precipitation for Friday should fall as snow down to 1000m, and to lower levels again later.

 

Summary

 

Quite a snowy week in prospect for parts of Austria and Italy, turning drier and milder for a time midweek, before turning more unsettled from the North west towards the weekend and progressively colder.

Thanks for the detailed forecast! That precipitation forecast just out of the reach for morzine France I think. Good snow depths already there though. Liking the chances of turnings re unsettled from next weekend though, arrive in morzine next Sunday so fingers crossed I can finally get to see some snow falling from the sky this winter!

[Blessed Weather]

Yet another weather front steaming towards the Alps, shown here on today's GFS 12z precipitation chart for 21.00 tonight.

 

 

Today's Euro4 output shows the front bringing snow to the French and Swiss Alps during Friday 21st Feb.

 

 

And by the early hours of Saturday 22nd the front has continued east bringing snow to the Tyrol region of Austria.

 

 

GFS 850 hpa charts show the 0c isotherm (freezing level) will be above 1,000 metres.

 

 

[carinthian]

We have certainly hit the jack pot regarding copious snowfall in our part of the Alps. 300cm depth recorded at 2000m today and 200cm here in the village, 80 cm at 1000m. The freezing level remains relatively high at 1200m. Avalanche warnings in force as the cover is presently unstable in the high Carinthia Region. Further snowfall expected on Saturday, but not likely to produce the previous heavy falls, then high pressure for the start of next week should make for some wonderful ski-ing.

 C

[Tim Bland]

Hi Carinthian / other Alpine experts

 

Im off skiing next week (from 1st March) would be interested in hearing your local long term forecasts. Do they agree with the ECM going for low heights?

 

http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/ecmwf.php?ech=240&mode=1&map=0&type=0&archive=0

[Blessed Weather]

Hi Carinthian / other Alpine experts

 

Im off skiing next week (from 1st March) would be interested in hearing your local long term forecasts. Do they agree with the ECM going for low heights?

 

http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/ecmwf.php?ech=240&mode=1&map=0&type=0&archive=0

 

Hi Tim,

I see from your post in the Model thread that you're off to Pas de la Casa in the Pyrenees. I've never skied the Pyrenees, but taking a quick look at your resort it looks great! And with the resort being at 2,050m, any whiff of precipitation this time of year must fall as snow 9 times out of 10? 

So I'm sure you've already picked up on the favourable model output for next weekend, with both ECM and GFS showing fronts coming in at first from a N'Westerly direction and then on a Northerly. GFS shows precipitation starting on Thurs 27th Feb and keeping going until Tues 4th March. And with both models showing the 850 Hpa 0c isotherm line well South of the Pyreness, it's got to be snow, snow, snow! 

A couple of charts for next Saturday 1st March. Have a great holiday.

 

[Tim Bland]

Hi BW, thanks for your reply / update I really appreciate it. Looking good for a snowy couple of weeks for most of the European ski resorts! I am thanking my lucky stars I didn't choose Bulgaria this year (I went there the last 2 years) as the snow there is terrible and most lifts are shut. In march 2013 & 2012 they had around 200cm. I'll post lots of pics to my twitter page @timbland36 if anyone wants a virtual snow fix

[J10]

Quick look ahead for Morzine this week

 

Firstly looking at the current conditions.  [From Ski Club GB]

Snow report

21 Feb 2014 13:30

 

A dusting of snow has improved the pistes

 

Snowfall: Last snowed 21 Feb 2014

 

Fresh snow 3cm

Last 7 days 23cm

Next 9 days 18cm

Depths: Upper piste depth 290cm

Lower piste depth 40cm

Snow conditions:

Piste quality Fresh

Resort runs Fresh

Off piste snow Fresh

Lifts: Lifts open 83 out of 88

 

Precipitation there now currently falling as rain is set to turn to snow overnight down to Morzine resort. Looking mostly dry until about Wednesday, with more frontal rain pushing in from the North West. probably falling as rain at Morzine, but perhaps as snow towards the top of the Pleney and certainly as snow at Avoriaz. Further precipitation possible on Friday again perhaps falling as snow on top of the Pleney with Freezing levels around 1400m.

 

This is the forecast you will see in Tourist Centres in the Portes du Soleil updated daily.

http://chamonix-meteo.com/chamonix-mont-blanc/weather/forecast/evening/6_days_weather_forecast.php

Edited February 22, 2014 by J10

[J10]

			 Upper Lower			   Last 7	  Piste       OffResort Name piste piste  Last snowed    days    Quality	  Piste   Lifts OpenAlpe d'Huez 220cm 115cm 14 Feb  (8cm)  53cm   Excellent  Excellent  15 out of 70Tignes	  190cm 110cm 13 Feb ( 5cm)  45cm   Excellent  Excellent  64 out of 79Wengen	  120cm  55cm 14 Feb (15cm)  30cm   Excellent   	Good  19 out of 19St Moritz   197cm 146cm 11 Feb ( 3cm)   8cm   Excellent     Varied  22 out of 22Mayrhofen    90cm   0cm 14 Feb (10cm)   0cm	   Fresh	 Patchy  25 out of 25Cervinia    300cm 220cm 14 Feb ( 5cm)  25cm   Excellent  Excellent  14 out of 14 

Good improvement in snow at most resorts, the exception being low down in Mayrhofen, but higher up conditions are far better.

 

It does some rather ironic that given such good conditions generally at snow resorts across Europe (including Scandinavia  and Scotland) , that the weather has been so warm in Sochi for the Winter Olympics.

 

		    Upper Lower			   Last 7	  Piste       OffResort Name piste piste  Last snowed    days    Quality	  Piste   Lifts OpenAlpe d'Huez 250cm 135cm 22 Feb  (5cm)  65cm   Excellent  Excellent  63 out of 70Tignes	  200cm 120cm 21 Feb (10cm)  35cm   Excellent  Excellent  79 out of 79Wengen	  140cm  45cm 21 Feb (12cm)  30cm   Excellent  Excellent  19 out of 19St Moritz   208cm 160cm 19 Feb ( 7cm)  51cm   Excellent       Good  22 out of 22Mayrhofen    80cm  10cm 20 Feb (10cm)  27cm   Excellent       Good  25 out of 25Cervinia    300cm 95cm  21 Feb ( 5cm)  60cm        Hard       Good  14 out of 14

Decent snowfalls at all of the above resorts.

Edited February 22, 2014 by J10

[Radiating Dendrite]

Yes Tim - I skied borovets last year this very week and it was very good. This year it looks awful! Enjoyed Bulgaria but it does not compare to the Alps..... even with lots of snow the piste preparation is a little lacking.

[Tim Bland]

Year before last (1st week

of March) Bulgaria was even better with 350cm and it snowed another 50cm while i was there. Places like Bulgaria and Andora are good value if you are happy to ski for a few hours a day and enjoy the après ski, but they can be a risk when it comes to snow. You can't beat the 3 valley's IMO but the bank balance suffers if you want a decent hotel and to go out every night! Despite the lack of snow in the UK the main European alpine resorts have had a very good year. Also Scotland has up to 9 meters of snow in places such as Cairngorm, tempted to go up there at Easter unless there is a rapid thaw.

Keep the reports & forecasts coming everyone!

Edited February 23, 2014 by Tim Bland

[J10]

Year before last (1st weekof March) Bulgaria was even better with 350cm and it snowed another 50cm while i was there. Places like Bulgaria and Andora are good value if you are happy to ski for a few hours a day and enjoy the après ski, but they can be a risk when it comes to snow. You can't beat the 3 valley's IMO but the bank balance suffers if you want a decent hotel and to go out every night! Despite the lack of snow in the UK the main European alpine resorts have had a very good year. Also Scotland has up to 9 meters of snow in places such as Cairngorm, tempted to go up there at Easter unless there is a rapid thaw.Keep the reports & forecasts coming everyone!

 

Tim, when will be your last time on here, before going on holiday as I will do a forecast for when and where you are going.

[J10]

I have been a bit tied up over the past couple of weeks, but full weekly forecasts will resume next weekend, in addition to the forecast for Tim above.

 

However a quick summary forecast for the week ahead.

 

Synoptics

 

Winds generally from a Westerly or South Westerly direction, so generally rather mild this week, but temps easing back toward the weekend. Pressure always a bit higher the further North East you go, so less precipitation expected here.

 

850HPa

 Western Alps – French Alps, Switzerland, Western half Italy and Germany Eastern Alps – Austria, Eastern half of Italy and GermanyMonday [West]    +0c (S) to +4c (N) [East] -1c (SE) to +3c (NW) Tuesday [West]   -2c (S) to +3c (N) [East]  0c (S)  to +3c (NW) Wednesday [West] -2c (W) to +2c (E) [East]  0c (S)  to +2c (N) Thursday [West]  -2c (N) to +1c (S) [East] -2c (N)  to +1c (S)Friday [West]    -1c to +1c(General)[East] -1c to +1c (General) 

Precipitation

 

 

A South West North East split, some moderate precipitation for some in the South West, but if GFS is correct completely dry over much of NE Austria over the next 6 days.

 

In a bit more detail, mostly dry on Monday. 

 

Frontal precipitation edging info French Alps, NW Switzerland mid Tuesday into the evening, snow level about 1400m

 

The snow risk transferring a bit further south for Wednesday morning more especially for the French Alps and SW Switzerland, snow level around 1200m. The precipitation band set to move east during Wednesday to be concentrated on Southern Switzerland for the afternoon, and over the Switzerland Austria border for late evening/ early overnight period before fading away. Snow levels dropping to 800m-1000m by the end of the day. 

 

At this stage looking mostly dry on Thursday after overnight precipitation fades away, before another precipitation band moves in from the North West for Friday, however this is not set to be that heavy or make that much eastern progress.

Edited February 23, 2014 by J10

[Tim Bland]

Tim, when will be your last time on here, before going on holiday as I will do a forecast for when and where you are going.

 

Hi J10, that's very kind of you. I leave on Sat so will probably be on here Friday for the last time.  In the meantime Can you nuke that Azores high for me and put a deep low over Iberia!

[J10]

Hi J10, that's very kind of you. I leave on Sat so will probably be on here Friday for the last time.  In the meantime Can you nuke that Azores high for me and put a deep low over Iberia!

 

i can't control the weather, if I did, I would be hunted down after the 13-14 winter.

 

Where are you going to, as this will affect the forecast.

Edited February 25, 2014 by J10

[Tim Bland]

Hi J10 off to pas dela casa which is Andora / Pyrenees....too close to the Azores high for my liking! Hope you agree at the time there is a chance if snow for sat - mon still but looks like dry and mild after

[Blessed Weather]

Hi J10, that's very kind of you. I leave on Sat so will probably be on here Friday for the last time.  In the meantime Can you nuke that Azores high for me and put a deep low over Iberia!

 

Hi Tim,

I guess a frustrating week with regard model output watching for your ski trip to Andorra, with the AH threatening to torpedo the originally favourable forecasts. I don't think it looks too bad though, with decent snowfall setting in tomorrow (Fri 28th) and, whilst easing, continuing into your arrival day on Sat 1st Mar. So hopefully you'll get there with some white stuff falling!

A few charts below from the Met Office. First the pressure chart showing the front arriving Friday and then two Euro4 charts for Spain showing Friday and early Saturday's projected snowfall.

 

[Tim Bland]

Thanks Blessed Weather!  Looks like I got lucky with the Azores high in the end. Looks as though the Pyranees and many of the European alpine resorts will see snow on and off until the middle of the week when high pressure will win over and give some nice clear days. I see Bulgaria is starting to see some snow now so all areas look good at the moment!