127 replies to this topic

[Jackone]

http://forum.netweat...t-2nd-december/

This is latest Snow Blog for the Alps. This is looking the best week in the Alps for a long time.

[johnholmes]

http://www.meteocent...etails/S067291/


A much more promising set of weather cams for the higher parts in the Alps, snowing fairly generally at 6000ft and predicted for the snowline to fall into the valleys over the weekend and into Monday.
The forecast for the Wengen area, using the forecast centre the Lauberhorn race committee use is very promising; at last!
see first line

http://www.bildersam...land/webcam.php

better for the Scottish ski areas as well


http://www.winterhig...ngorm-mountain/

the Wengen or rather Lauberhorn(7500ft) suggests precipitation totals of 20-25mm, which with temperatures well below zero C at that height suggests 25-35cm of snow?

Edited by johnholmes, 03 December 2011 - 08:38 .

[Ben_Cambs]

Yes finally some snow where I'm skiing after Christmas! May be wrong, but there could be some more significant snowfall on Monday and Tuesday across the Alps (GFS) as well as more snow further down the line. Things are looking better to say the least.

Edited by Ben_Cambs, 03 December 2011 - 08:36 .

[carinthian]

johnholmes, on 03 December 2011 - 08:31 , said:

http://www.meteocent...etails/S067291/


A much more promising set of weather cams for the higher parts in the Alps, snowing fairly generally at 6000ft and predicted for the snowline to fall into the valleys over the weekend and into Monday.
The forecast for the Wengen area, using the forecast centre the Lauberhorn race committee use is very promising; at last!
see first line

http://www.bildersam...land/webcam.php

better for the Scottish ski areas as well


http://www.winterhig...ngorm-mountain/

the Wengen or rather Lauberhorn(7500ft) suggests precipitation totals of 20-25mm, which with temperatures well below zero C at that height suggests 25-35cm of snow?

Yes John, more excitement here in the camp this morning. Already more moisture in evidence and the latest charts show the cold front to bring 20 cm of snowfall to The Hohe Tauren by Monday afternoon with the snow level dropping to 1200m. Still all the resorts are empty, so a bumper snowfall will be good news for the Christmas booking, hopefully.
C

[Jackone]

Good to see the webcams this morning starting to show a bit of snow finally, and with the lower temps over the weekend, this is set to drop to resort level. However this new snow at higher levels should form a base for the season.

[johnholmes]

hi Julian
I know doing the Alps forecast is a large job but as a mod would you be able to put up a ski web cam thread that only allows actual links to be posted in? No added chat from anyone. It would be great for all ski enthusiasts to be able to log on to the cam for the area they are interested in?
I'm happy to send you pm's with a list to start of with if you would do it?

cheers

john

a few for starters!


Web cams as a starter

Jungfrau area
http://www.jungfrau.ch/en/tourism/travel-information/webcams/winter-webcams/

Innsbruck area
http://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/Austria/Innsbruck_webcams.html

Mayrhofen area
http://www.bergfex.com/mayrhofen/webcams/c1454/

or this site may cover the above and much much more?
http://www.snoweye.com/

Scotland
http://www.winterhighland.info/

Edited by JACKONE, 05 December 2011 - 19:35 .

[recklessabandon]

http://uk.reuters.co...E7AS2VV20111130

Incredible really.

I'm off to Saas-Fee in 9 days.......I think I just about backed the right (only?) horse.....

[chrisbooth0070]

Looking must better on the mountains today - long may the snow continue

P.S. A sigh of relief from me - I go away skiing next week!

Edited by chrisbooth0070, 05 December 2011 - 17:41 .

[SuttonStorm]

I must admit, I am feeling much happier today :-) Another big dump expected from tuesday evening (too lower levels than today too) lasting for most of wednesday - will make a good base to work on.

Heading out on the 18th so lots more please
Good cam for the three valleys:
http://livecam.courc...bcam=4&langue=3

SS

[Mark 'Ox' Neal]

BBC Weather Forecaster Jay Wynne explains the lack of snow for the alps. http://www.bbc.co.uk...atures/16035626

[Jackone]

http://forum.netweat...in-snow-webcams is the webcams thread recommended.

[jonnybradley]

Still a bit nervous about the Christmas/New years period I must say. Sorry to be down beat but with the setup that we have at the moment this weeks snow may have to last a while.

With a very untrained eye on the models, they mostly seem to point to high pressure building up over Europe again.

Hopefully its only short lived am heading to Chamonix 17th Dec.

Fingers crossed

[Coast]

Quote

Snow finally arrives in the Alps

Winter has finally arrived in the major ski resorts, but Peter Hardy says we should only remain cautiously optimistic about the season ahead.

Skiers and tour operators breathed a collective sigh of relief today as snow started to fall in abundance across the Alps. Winter has finally arrived, one month behind schedule. The French Alps caught the first of it, but the snow is slowly spreading eastwards, with most snowfall expected on Wednesday and Thursday across a wide swathe of Europe, bringing up to 30 inches (75 cm) to most resorts in France, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy.

The first proper winter storm followed the driest and warmest autumn since 1864. Holidaymakers arriving in resorts such as Courchevel last weekend found, at best, just a strip of man-made snow surrounded by brown pastures and bare peaks. Val d’Isère and Tignes in France, along with Zermatt in Switzerland and Ischgl in Austria, had managed to open on schedule with around 20 per cent of their pistes, but others have had to postpone their opening days

Anxious tour operators who have been frantically discounting holidays will now start restoring their prices. But if you can find a bargain chalet and get away this weekend to a resort such as Tignes or Ischgl, you are going to have a ball. Adam Johnson, head of ski sales for Igluski.com, the UK's biggest independent ski holiday agent, said: "Last week we were being inundated with calls from people desperate to know if it was going to snow; today the phone hasn't stopped ringing from people wanting to book late deals. "The snow we've had is obviously a relief otherwise skiers arriving for Christmas would have been greeted with grass-covered slopes. Now we've got to keep our fingers crossed it stays cold and there are still more falls."

The prospect of bare slopes and long faces for the Christmas and New Year holidays has mercifully receded. However, my advice for anyone planning on booking a last minute trip is to still only aim for one of the highest resorts, preferably with a glacier. While I’m cautiously optimistic about conditions for a proper white Christmas almost everywhere, much depends on temperatures over the coming fortnight. Currently it is colder at altitude than it has been: -13C on top of the Grande Motte glacier above Tignes this afternoon and -9C on top of La Saulire above Meribel and Courchevel. However, any return to the +12C we have been experiencing at resort level and the current snowfall will rapidly disappear, particularly in low-lying resorts.

In Val d’Isère last week I saw people picnicking on the grass on the lower slopes looking down on the town where people were walking about in T-shirts. Up on the Pissaillas Glacier a new restaurant opened with a barbecue party on its gloriously sunny, but snow-free terrace at 9,800 ft (3,000 m). The ground is still warm and it will now take time to establish a firm base. The sheer volume of skiers over the holiday period requires a well-established base, otherwise the snow cover will be quickly eroded. Unfortunately, temperatures are expected to rise later in the week and any precipitation on Friday in the Alps could fall as rain below 6,500 ft (2,000 m).

A white cloud of artificial snow should have been enveloping resorts since around November 10. However, cannon can only operate at temperatures below 3C. Normally they create haystack-sized stockpiles that pisteurs can then “farm” around the slopes. This creates a secure base before nature steps in with the real stuff. But temperatures were too high for cannon to operate except at night. As a result, World Cup races scheduled for Val d’Isère that normally mark the beginning of the European ski season had to be moved to Beaver Creek in Colorado. North America has had a much better start with snow falling since October.

http://www.telegraph...n-the-Alps.html



Snowfall for 12 hrs ending Wed 07 Dec at 1pm Local Time

http://www.snow-fore...ps/dynamic/alps

[Jackone]

SuttonStorm, on 25 November 2011 - 19:54 , said:

Thanks Julian - an interesting read. The divergence of the 850 temps was interesting and at the same time hard to understand (for me anyway) - why is there so much variation or are you indicating the possible range?

SS

The Alps covers a wide area, and it is very easy for 850HPA temps to be 10c higher from one part to another. There is the trade off of getting as much info across as possible, but also making it easy to read in a table.

Stamford82, on 19 November 2011 - 13:07 , said:

Thanks for the updates guys.

I'm off to Morzine in Port Du Soleil on Xmas eve and it's not looking great atm

Some decent snowfall today even down to Morzine level.

[kmanmx]

Heading to Les Arcs at end of January, it's finally had some decent snow.

You can really see how well the snow has built up over the past 5 days, particularly in the last 2


Saturday 3rd http://www.webcam-sk...locher_MEGA.jpg

Monday 5th http://www.webcam-sk...locher_MEGA.jpg

End of today http://www.webcam-sk...locher_MEGA.jpg

[jonnybradley]

http://www.chamonet....is-weekend.html

Not looking so bad just now!!! Meto have issued high avalanche warning across the French alps till the pack stabilizes. So be careful out there!

carinthian posted on Tue? that there was no snow yet in Katschberghohe(?) where he is. Any body got updates for the eastern alps?

Jon

[Ben_Cambs]

jonnybradley, on 07 December 2011 - 22:02 , said:

http://www.chamonet....is-weekend.html

Not looking so bad just now!!! Meto have issued high avalanche warning across the French alps till the pack stabilizes. So be careful out there!

carinthian posted on Tue? that there was no snow yet in Katschberghohe(?) where he is. Any body got updates for the eastern alps?

Jon

The resort I go to in Italy ( not far from the Austrian border) got about a foot of snow or so, though the snowfall was better in France and Switzerland.

If we can keep a cool/cold zonality pattern, there should be more snow opportunities for the Alps, (GFS shows several next week).

Edit: Link which shows snow accumilation over the Alps in the past 7 days: http://img.snow-fore...t7days.903c.jpg

Edited by Ben_Cambs, 08 December 2011 - 17:47 .

[Coast]

Not lots falling tomorrow:


Snowfall for 12 hrs ending Sat 10 Dec at 1am Local Time

Mostly confined to Austria

[Gorath]

Coast, what area does that map cover, exactly? And what are those white areas at the bottom? Glaciers? Ice cover?

[shedhead]

Gorath, on 09 December 2011 - 11:11 , said:

Coast, what area does that map cover, exactly? And what are those white areas at the bottom? Glaciers? Ice cover?

Med and Adriatic.