Major Snowfall in the Alps

A ample snowstorm is presently impacting the Alps, with the heaviest snowfall successful the northwest (France and parts of Italy and Switzerland) but with astir everyplace seeing plentifulness of snowfall.

It’s accomplishment is simply a small precocious successful the time but it’s looking similar the biggest snowstorm of the 22-23 play to day with higher slopes perchance getting implicit a metre of caller snowfall by Sunday.

After conscionable dilatory declines successful basal depths implicit the past 2 months, the numbers person been jumping backmost up with Avoriaz and Tignes the archetypal successful Europe to station precocious basal extent implicit 3 metres (10 feet) since mid-January.  Cervinia, different skis are unfastened into May, has posted the biggest autumn truthful acold – 60cm successful the past 24 hours.

But the tempest is getting rather convulsive with precise beardown winds expected done the weekend, already starring to resorts closing precocious lifts and runs done information concerns.

There is besides a interest astir the freezing constituent level with little resorts and vale slopes perchance seeing dense rainfall alternatively than snowfall, though the latest forecasts enactment the freezing constituent down astatine 1200-1500m, little than primitively feared.

Avalanche information levels are besides increasing, present up astatine level 3 successful galore areas and apt to emergence higher.

For those leaving and arriving, peculiarly astatine precocious resorts successful the French Alps, resorts pass that postulation conditions are apt to beryllium the astir hard connected Saturday and Sunday mornings with astir requiring chains to beryllium fitted to vehicles.

On the upside, the boost to snowfall screen is apt to beryllium important connected higher slopes astatine resorts that enactment unfastened to precocious April and successful immoderate cases into May.  It’s besides bully quality for summertime glacier skis areas which up to present had been posting precise bladed bases.

Montgenevre,  which has had 30m of snowfall truthful acold contiguous (Friday 10 March 2023) is pictured supra and top, Verbier below.