The Alps Snow Thread - Season 2014/2015

[Blessed Weather]

Not surprisingly, an avalanche warning has been issued today for the Austrian Alps (translated using Google):

 

High avalanche danger in the Alps
After the heavy snowfall in the Alps, the avalanche danger has increased. In the northern Alps, a widespread level three, so considerable avalanche danger in the Allgäu already stage four. Off the slopes, extreme caution should be exercised.

Up until tonight (snow has) come to the Bavarian Alps again around 10cm and from the Salzburg Alps to the Tauern even up to 20cm of fresh snow together. Then the amount of new snow is already up to one meter. Because of the high avalanche danger, the police also has some border crossings and roads blocked. This affects mainly the county and Unterammergau Upper Allgaeu, especially here Oberstdorf. Drivers must therefore take some detours....

 

http://www.wetteronline.de/wetterticker?postId=post_5367181

 

Meteo France are reporting that snow levels across the French Alps have now climbed to depths expected for this point in the season (translated using Google):

 

Thanks to the very active snowfall that hit all the French mountains on the weekend of December 27 and 28, the snow, which was all very deficient, (have now) found values close to those of (the) seasonal (average) everywhere except Corsica, where it remains significantly negative.

 

http://www.meteofrance.fr/actualites?articleId=19194864

Edited December 31, 2014 by Blessed Weather

[BennyL]

I'm off to Morillon, Grand Massif area on the 3rd Jan, slightly concerned that it's scheduled to rain on Friday night and Saturday due to the milder weather seeping in.. should I be worried? 

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

I'm off to Morillon, Grand Massif area on the 3rd Jan, slightly concerned that it's scheduled to rain on Friday night and Saturday due to the milder weather seeping in.. should I be worried? 

Morillon is low altitude, about 750 m.  Its only a transient milder blip though.  Here's what is likely for next 6-8 days Benny....Thurs max 2c min -4c, Fri max 4c min -1c intermittent cloud,  Sat max 4c min -1c sleet, Sun max 2c min -4c snow, Mon max 2c min -4c sunny, Tues max 3c min -6c intermittent cloud, Wed 2c min -2c.............so not bad and nothing to worry about,   the mountain will be great

 

 

I've booked a late ski holiday this year going 1st week of March, got a feeling this is a backended winter.  I'm off to Sauze D'Oulx

 

BFTP

Edited December 31, 2014 by BLAST FROM THE PAST

[J10]

 

I'm off to Morillon, Grand Massif area on the 3rd Jan, slightly concerned that it's scheduled to rain on Friday night and Saturday due to the milder weather seeping in.. should I be worried? 

 

Alas my next update will be done on that date for the week ahead.

 

However others have been very good in updating information.

 

A Happy new year to all readers of this thread, I genuinely think it is one of the best and certainly friendliest on Net Weather.

Edited December 31, 2014 by J10

[Duane S.]

I'm off to Morillon, Grand Massif area on the 3rd Jan, slightly concerned that it's scheduled to rain on Friday night and Saturday due to the milder weather seeping in.. should I be worried?

As BFTP says Morillon is pretty low down as resorts go and is just round the corner from where I'm heading this weekend. Rain has been looking possible for Saturday into Sunday at sub 1500M for a while now but it really could be touch and go and more recent forecasts have made me become more optimistic that it may well start as rain but turn to snow quite quickly. Thereafter nothing overly mild on the cards, maybe the odd day a little on the mild side but nothing too drastic. Also keep an eye on Friday the 9th, this could get interesting, hints of a decent dumping in parts of the Alps. Enjoy your trip.

[Blessed Weather]

I'm off to Morillon, Grand Massif area on the 3rd Jan, slightly concerned that it's scheduled to rain on Friday night and Saturday due to the milder weather seeping in.. should I be worried? 

 

Hi BennyL. Just to throw in my input in addition to the good comments above from BFTP & s4lancia.

 

I've checked the latest forecasts for Morillon on the Meteo France website this morning and unfortunately it does show it raining on Saturday when you arrive. Freezing level will be up at 2,000m with snow falling down to 1,700m. However, precipitation dies out overnight Saturday and then Sunday should be sunny before temperatures drop and light snow moves in on Sunday evening, falling down to 700m. Monday and Tuesday should be sunny and whilst the day time highs might get up to +4c or +5c, it's good to see that overnight temps will fall below freezing, allowing the piste bashers to get the runs into great shape for the morning. So 'freeze thaw' conditions, with the best skiing in the morning on newly groomed pistes, but with lower slopes likely to become a bit soft in the afternoon. Here's the Meteo France charts:

 

This weekend (Sat in detail at the bottom) Mon to Thur (resort overview at the bottom)

 

Meteo France link: http://www.meteofrance.com/previsions-meteo-montagne/morillon/74440

 

Meteo France are reporting 45cm of snow at the bottom and 100cm at the top, so the resort is in good shape. I'm pretty certain you will have a great weeks skiing. Enjoy, and if you get a chance to post from the resort, it would be great to have your 'birds-eye' update!

 

And if I may add to J10's thoughts and wish everyone reading this thread a Happy New Year.

Edited January 1, 2015 by Blessed Weather

[seaside 60]

Just looked the cam for Les Gets, its looks beautiful there.

Plenty of what looks like good snow lovely pistes and totally blue skys.

Can we not have back our cold sunny days here.

[BennyL]

Thanks all for the reports and reassurance... I have had this booked since July so when I started looking at the weather reports Mid December it started to look very bleak.... Felt very sorry for the Xmas goers.

Edited January 1, 2015 by BennyL

[johnholmes]

Happy New Year to everyone on this thread, and a hope that wherever any of us go we get some decent skiing in.

[J10]

I am thinking of going skiing again this years after a few years off. [Fitness regime to restart after Christmas indulgence]

 

What is the best way of cutting costs a a sole traveler, as it appears, most accommodation costs are per apartment rather than individual.

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

Beeny

To add re BWs excellent post, sunny and 4c will make for tremedous skiing particularly upto lunchtime, get some sun cream on and enjoy enjoy enjoy.   A base of 45 cm L and 100cm U is good shape and 4c won't bother that especially with sub zero at night.  Roll on 28/2.......I get to my resort about 11 am, will get fitted with boots and skis, I will then have a test run to check all is in order and then I'm spending the afternoon having large pizza and a few sherbs.  Me ol mucka agrees and we'll let the other 4 hardcore skiers ski off that afternoon.   I'm going to 'investiagte' the bars.   :smiliz19:  

 

BFTP

[Blessed Weather]

I am thinking of going skiing again this years after a few years off. [Fitness regime to restart after Christmas indulgence]

 

What is the best way of cutting costs a a sole traveler, as it appears, most accommodation costs are per apartment rather than individual.

 

Hi Julian,

The mountains are calling you..... go for it!!

My suggestion would be to look at a catered chalet option. I've had 3 such holidays and thoroughly enjoyed each one. But admittedly I went with a mate and not on my own. Whilst the headline price might not look particularly cheap you have to remember that breakfast and a 3 course evening meal with copious quantities of free wine is included in the price. For someone going skiing on their own a chalet allows you to meet lots of nice people (fellow guests) and you will soon end up skiing with them after a couple of days. We did and had a ball. And I have to say that in 3 trips staying in chalets catering for between 10 and 16 people I've not encountered any pain-in-the-buttock guests!

 

A couple of tips - make sure the ratio of loos to guests is good, or preferably select a room with en-suite (although this bumps up the price). And depending on preference you might also want to avoid "family friendly" and " baby sitting/crèche available" chalets if young kids is not your thing.

 

When I put "ski chalet individual traveller" into Google it came back with 2 company's on the first page of results that offer chalet holiday's for the solo traveller (skiworld and coldfusionchalets). Otherwise go for one of the smaller companies who provide catered chalets and hold out for a late deal. On 2 of my trips there were individuals who had given the chalet operator a last minute bell and had negotiated a twin room for themselves (my guess is it's better to have one paying guest rather than none).

 

Anyway, good luck with your planning and I hope a ski trip comes to fruition in one way or another. Maybe we should organise a Netweather Members Skiing Trip one year and take a whole chalet to ourselves!!  

[J10]

Hi Julian,

The mountains are calling you..... go for it!!

My suggestion would be to look at a catered chalet option. I've had 3 such holidays and thoroughly enjoyed each one. But admittedly I went with a mate and not on my own. Whilst the headline price might not look particularly cheap you have to remember that breakfast and a 3 course evening meal with copious quantities of free wine is included in the price. For someone going skiing on their own a chalet allows you to meet lots of nice people (fellow guests) and you will soon end up skiing with them after a couple of days. We did and had a ball. And I have to say that in 3 trips staying in chalets catering for between 10 and 16 people I've not encountered any pain-in-the-buttock guests!

 

A couple of tips - make sure the ratio of loos to guests is good, or preferably select a room with en-suite (although this bumps up the price). And depending on preference you might also want to avoid "family friendly" and " baby sitting/crèche available" chalets if young kids is not your thing.

 

When I put "ski chalet individual traveller" into Google it came back with 2 company's on the first page of results that offer chalet holiday's for the solo traveller (skiworld and coldfusionchalets). Otherwise go for one of the smaller companies who provide catered chalets and hold out for a late deal. On 2 of my trips there were individuals who had given the chalet operator a last minute bell and had negotiated a twin room for themselves (my guess is it's better to have one paying guest rather than none).

 

Anyway, good luck with your planning and I hope a ski trip comes to fruition in one way or another. Maybe we should organise a Netweather Members Skiing Trip one year and take a whole chalet to ourselves!!  

 

Cheers for that

 

I will be investigating those sites later today.

[BennyL]

I am thinking of going skiing again this years after a few years off. [Fitness regime to restart after Christmas indulgence]

 

What is the best way of cutting costs a a sole traveler, as it appears, most accommodation costs are per apartment rather than individual.

 

I done it on my own last year for a long weekend... I went to Les Houches near Chamonix, stayed in a little hotel called La Barme ..... £39 a night in a single room, could had fitted a double bed at a squeeze but the location was great for the gondola... it was a bit of a walk into town but that wasn't an issue after a jar or five.

 

Many places offer single occupancy, hotels.com or bookings.com are great places to find these... well that is where I look. 

[Spah1]

Looks like rain unless your at the highest resorts!

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Avoriaz/6day/mid

[J10]

Blog currently under construction, probably online around 1-2, but in the meantime.

 

http://www.snow-forecast.com/overviews/tips_full

 

SNOW NEWS UPDATED 2 JANUARY 2015

 

INTRODUCTION Conditions across the Alps are almost unrecognisable from a week ago, when many resorts were struggling to open more than a handful of lifts. Heavy snow fell across the western Alps between Boxing Day and Sunday 28th December, but continued in Austria right up until New Year's Eve. Well over a metre was recorded in places, but with almost all Alpine resorts seeing a good snowfall, the skiing is now very good across the board.

 

AUSTRIA It has snowed in parts of Austria almost continuously since Boxing Day, leaving behind well over a metre of fresh snow for some. The most fell in the Vorarlberg region, on resorts such as St Anton (35/140cm) and Lech/Zurs (65/105cm). As a result almost all lifts were open and conditions both on and off piste were excellent over New Year. Conditions across the country have been transformed and fortunately the pre-Christmas woes can begin to be forgotten. Lots of new snow also fell further east in the Austrian Tyrol, with resorts such as Fieberbrunn (50/100cm), seeing between 40 and 50cm of new snow on New Year's Eve. The conditions as a result have been massively improved and most slopes are now open. Good skiing has also been reported in the Salzburgerland at resorts such as Zell am See (20/67cm), Bad Gastein (60/130cm) and Saalbach Hinterglemm (40/90cm), thanks to the week's snowfalls.Friday 2nd January dawned sunny across the Austrian Alps, with temperatures rising above freezing but this represents a brief period of calm weather. Clouds are forecast to move during the afternoon and will bring with them a mixture of snow above around 1500-1800m, but unfortunately rain below. The good news is that the freezing level will drop rapidly through Saturday night, so by Sunday all resorts should be seeing snowfall. The most snowfall is expected again in the Vorarlberg but also the Tyrol, so there could be some powder turns available early next week.

 

FRANCE The heavy snowfall that landed just after Christmas transformed the skiing conditions across France, but the weather has since settled down and the temperature has increased. There are still patches of powder snow to be found off piste for those that want fresh snow skiing. Off piste the recent snow fell predominantly on ground that did not have an established snow base so there are hidden rocks that can catch you out, so take care. On piste in France the skiing is very good at the moment although the mild conditions of recent days means that there can be hard packed snow lower down, so the best conditions once again can be found on the upper slopes. On Sunday 1st January, the Ski Club Leader in Avoriaz (90/110cm) reported that the runs to Villard were hard packed and a bit icy but the snow at altitude was in good condition. The forecast for the Northern Alps is for cloudy weather over the weekend with a chance of rain below about 1,500m and snow above 2,000m. It is expected to remain a little brighter in the Southern Alps and Pyrenees over this period. Next week is then expected to be predominantly sunny across the French resorts.

 

SWITZERLAND The skiing across our featured Swiss resorts was good on Friday 2nd January. It is hard packed in places and, as before Christmas, the best conditions can generally be found on the upper slope. A mixture of sun and cloud had moved in over the resorts for the day on Friday and some resorts were expecting a mixture of sun, rain and snow before the weekend. The temperature and freezing level have elevated since the end of 2014, hence the chance of rain below about 2,000m. The good news is that all of our featured Swiss resorts should receive further fresh snowfall over the weekend before brighter weather returns on Monday 5th January. Sunday 4th is expected to be colder than Friday and Saturday, with mid-mountain temperatures at all of our featured Swiss resorts remaining below freezing. On Sunday 1st January the Ski Club Leader in Verbier (28/92cm) reported excellent skiing on very quiet pistes with the highlight being skiing up on Mont Fort.Over in the Jungfrau area the Leader at Wengen (15/60cm) said on Sunday that it was still possible to find fresh tracks off piste so the group enjoyed some fantastic powder skiing under sunny skies.You can see from these comments that the skiing is still good, but recent windy weather means that the snow can be windblown in places, and some pistes are firmly packed down. If you are heading off piste then beware of buried obstacles.

 

ITALY The conditions in Italy are very similar to those in France and Switzerland. The temperature has increased since the post-Christmas snowfall, with sunny skies over the weekend providing ideal conditions to work on your 2015 goggle tan. Clouds moved in for Friday 2nd January, and the cloud cover is expected to become heavier over weekend, bringing a chance of some light snowfall in places. Selva Gardena (5/50cm) reported a dusting of fresh snow on 30th January, while the glacier skiing resort of Val Senales (5/265cm) fared a little better with 20cm of new snow reported on the same day. These two Italian resorts may have reported the most recent snowfall in the country, but there are many other resorts that are skiing very well at the moment. As with elsewhere in Europe the higher you are the less temperature affected the snow condition is in Italy. The glacier skiing resort of Passo Tonale (40/350cm) has the deepest snow base with three and a half metres of snow on the glacier slopes. Val Senales sits in second places with over two and a half metres of snow on the glacier slopes there.

GERMANY The skiing in has been transformed over the past week across Germany, with heavy snow reported right up until New Year's Eve. The greatest falls were recorded at Garmisch (40/200cm) and Lenggries (40/90cm) and Reit im Winkl (64/90cm), all of which saw over 35cm of new snow on the 31st December. Unfortunately some rain is forecast for most resorts on Saturday, but this is expected to quickly change to snow through Saturday night and into Sunday. The heaviest precipitation should fall during the colder weather, so hopefully there will be a good covering of new snow come early next week.

 

BULGARIA Some good skiing is on offer currently in Bulgaria and unlike in the Alps, the temperature remains well below freezing. New snow was seen across the country on New Year's Eve, adding a further 10-15cm to the snow base and improving overall on-piste conditions Pamporovo (25/35cm) had seven lifts turning on Friday 2nd January and the slope conditions were reported as good. The deepest base remains at Bansko (30/110cm), where some excellent skiing is on offer on the upper slopes.

 

EUROPEAN WEATHER OUTLOOK The skies across the northern Alps are forecast to cloud over throughout the course of Friday night and precipitation is expected to fall on Saturday 3rd January. Unfortunately the warm westerly airflow is set to bump the freezing level up to around 2,000m. Some rain is therefore expected on the lower slopes in France, Switzerland and Austria before the freezing level falls back down during the course on Saturday night as the cold front passes through. All levels should hopefully then see some snowfall during Sunday, with the most falling again in Switzerland and Austria. On slopes above 2,000m up to 30cm is forecast, with locally more in some favoured spots in northern Switzerland and Austria. Sunny weather is forecast to continue over the weekend across the Pyrenees this weekend, and with freezing levels sitting at around 3,000m. No new snow is imminent but the good base should hold up well even with the warm weather. Across in Bulgaria, the weather is expected to remain cold over the weekend, with 2,000m temperatures sitting at around -4C. Some new snow is possible on Sunday and Monday, accompanied by a serious drop in temperature to well below -10C, even at valley level. Mixed weather is forecast across Scandinavia this weekend, but cold temperatures are expected for all.

Edited January 3, 2015 by J10

[J10]

https://forum.netweather.tv/blog/189/entry-4861-alps-weather-forecast-3-january-2015/

 

Blog now up.

 

Not the easiest week to forecast to be honest.

 

After the rain/snow event this weekend, not the easiest week to forecast, with widely fluctuation temps and some very cold air for some eastern parts. I'd also take the forecast towards next weekend with a huge pinch of salt at the moment.

[Blessed Weather]

https://forum.netweather.tv/blog/189/entry-4861-alps-weather-forecast-3-january-2015/

 

Blog now up.

 

Not the easiest week to forecast to be honest.

 

After the rain/snow event this weekend, not the easiest week to forecast, with widely fluctuation temps and some very cold air for some eastern parts. I'd also take the forecast towards next weekend with a huge pinch of salt at the moment.

 

Thank you for your updates Julian. The rain across the western Alps today is very disappointing, so it's to be hoped the forecast of lower temps digging back in behind the cold front with some back-edge snow is correct. At least that will "pretty" things up and put a layer of snow back on to pistes that would otherwise just freeze by Sunday morning and be very icy. Looking at the Euro4 model the eastern Alps look like they might escape the worst of the rain and enjoy more in the way of snowfall.

 

I set off for Feldberg, Germany, tomorrow and will hopefully be able to make a post or two during the week. Weather there looks set to be mainly sunny by day and frosty by night, so really not too bad for skiing (as long as the pistes there haven't been totally destroyed by today's heavy rain!!). 

[J10]

Thank you for your updates Julian. The rain across the western Alps today is very disappointing, so it's to be hoped the forecast of lower temps digging back in behind the cold front with some back-edge snow is correct. At least that will "pretty" things up and put a layer of snow back on to pistes that would otherwise just freeze by Sunday morning and be very icy. Looking at the Euro4 model the eastern Alps look like they might escape the worst of the rain and enjoy more in the way of snowfall.

 

I set off for Feldberg, Germany, tomorrow and will hopefully be able to make a post or two during the week. Weather there looks set to be mainly sunny by day and frosty by night, so really not too bad for skiing (as long as the pistes there haven't been totally destroyed by today's heavy rain!!). 

 

Have a good one

[Duane S.]

Looks like rain unless your at the highest resorts!

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Avoriaz/6day/mid

 

Constant rain overnight here at about 1,250m, as per the forecast, although not nice to hear it outside slowly eating away at the still pretty decent snowbase! Hoping for a couple of cm of back edge snow later on this morning.

[carinthian]

Morning, snow arrived overnight , about 10 cm. Just in the cold air sector, so should hold the snowfall to fairly low levels in this part. The waving front seems to have a warm air sector affecting the Western Alps with some locally heavy falls at elevation but rain at lower levels.  Moisture levels remain high today in the Northern Alps with plenty of wet snowfall, could easily settle back to lower levels later today. Sunshine back on the cards for much of next week.

 C

[johnholmes]

Much as I posted in the model thread, temporary cold incursions may stop the next 2 weeks being rated poor at lower level some of the time but the links below show why Europe/Alps are not really having anything like as good a start to the skiing season as last year. For cold the upper flow needs to be at least WNW, with a ridge in the Atlantic or further north and a trough of sorts over Scandinavia/Europe to guarantee cold, low enough for snow blowers to operate when needed. Then with occasional real snow top ups. No real sign of that in the next 2 weeks. I wonder how many more races are going to be affected. The Lauberhorn may well be one with the finish area, see link, barely covered and then only in the last few days.

http://mp1.met.psu.edu/~fxg1/ECMWF_0z/hgtcomp.html

http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/predictions/814day/500mb.php

Lauberhorn race link

http://www.lauberhorn.ch/en/?langId=2

[carinthian]

Morning all, very quiet on the slopes this morning. UK visitors starting to arrive. At least we have some snow falling at the moment and its cold.

 C

[chionomaniac]

Constant rain overnight here at about 1,250m, as per the forecast, although not nice to hear it outside slowly eating away at the still pretty decent snowbase! Hoping for a couple of cm of back edge snow later on this morning.

That's gutting. What a difference from a week ago when it wouldn't stop snowing. Freezing level is above Les Gets most of the week - hopefully there will still be some decent snow left, especially higher up.

[madmick]

I've been keeping an eye on the conditions and forecast for sauce d,oulx as am due there for a weekend ski break/stag do on the 24-27 Jan. It's not looking too good for any substantial snowfall in the next 10 days jjudging by the models and commentary on the main thread...still the plethora of bars should help soften the blow I guess. Good skiing to all of you who are going in the immediate future let's hope for better conditions! Cheers