New Year on the slopes

EUROPEAN WEATHER OUTLOOK
Austria still offers some of the best skiing in Europe at the moment, Switzerland and Italy have excellent on-piste conditions, but France is still waiting for snow.

The next snow in the Alps is likely to come in early January. The outlook until then is a continuation of recent sunny weather and mild temperatures.

Over in the Pyrenees, there is a chance of some fresh snow over the next few days.

NORTH AMERICA WEATHER OUTLOOK
It will be a snowy, cloudy end to 2016 in the east of the US. December has been so good, in fact, that Mount Snow needs just seven centimeters of snow to surpass last season’s entire snow fall in just one month.

Looking forward, the New Year brings storms and snow yet again.

In Canada snow cloudy conditions dominate the forecast; both east and west can expect fresh snow every day for the rest of 2016.

AUSTRIA
Austria offers a real mix of skiing conditions at the moment. Some of the lower lying resorts are struggling due to the lack of natural snowfall recently, while some others have had fresh snowfall over the last week.

The forecast of heavy snowfall has changed unfortunately and this coming week will remain predominantly sunny. There is a change of some very light snowfall at the start of the New Year but not enough to dramatically change the conditions.

FRANCE
France enjoyed a splendid, warm, sunny day yesterday and many smaller resorts have been unable to offer anything but the most limited of skiing.

The best conditions are in the biggest and most snow sure resorts like Val d’Isere, Val Thorens and Serre Chevalier. There are also great conditions in areas that got snowed on just before Christmas, places like Val Cenis and Vars.

SWITZERLAND
Switzerland had clear sunny skies yesterday. The best conditions are still Zermatt and Saas Fee in particular.  The big change is expected to arrive in early 2017; for the remainder of 2016 it’s looking like fine and sunny weather in the Swiss Alps.

ITALY
High pressure weather conditions remained in place over Italy again yesterday and all resorts were bathed in brilliant sunshine as they had been for weeks. From east to west it was yet again very similar snow conditions on piste. Expert grooming and snow making operations meant fast firm snow early before strong sunshine brought softer almost slushy snow in the afternoon.

The short term forecast across Italy is for sunshine and dry conditions for the remainder of 2016.

ANDORRA
There was some good piste skiing available in Andorra yesterday. Conditions on the slopes are variable with good, grippy snow in places and hard packed and occasionally icy slopes elsewhere.

NORWAY/SWEDEN
The best conditions in Norway are in Geilo, Hemsedal and Oppdal thanks to the post-Christmas snowfall of around 10-15cm.

Over in Sweden, Salen was offering the most skiing, whereas the best conditions were probably in Are.

GERMANY
It was another sunny day in Germany yesterday. It’s undeniably bare, but the on-piste skiing is still great.

There was no snow being forecast for Germany in the short term, and certainly not before the end of the year. Long range forecasting was very unreliable.

BULGARIA
Fresh snow finally arrived in Bulgaria, with traces of light snow yesterday. The best skiing could be found on the upper slopes, with Bansko the pick of the bunch.

The snowy trend is set to continue until the end of the year. Borovets is expecting the most snow with 20cm forecast to land before the weekend.

SCOTLAND
It was another windy day in Scotland yesterday and at Cairngorm winds were blowing at 49mph preventing safe operation of the ski lifts. Glencoe was open for limited skiing but there was not enough snow to open the lower sections of the hill. Lecht was also open but conditions are poor due to a lack of snow. There was no significant snowfall forecast for Scotland.

USA
It was a predominantly sunny and clear day right across the USA – the first time in a while that most resorts were bathied in stunning sunshine. Killington, Mount Snow and other resorts in Vermont were preparing for heavy snowfalls of more than 30cms.

More storms are predicted across the US from Saturday.

CANADA
Yesterday was another tremendous day in Canadian ski resorts.

All lifts were running in Kimberley, where conditions were fantastic across the area. Mont Tremblant was operating at full capacity with all lifts operating and plenty of fresh powder to be skied. Many resorts were dealing with past six day snowfall of around half a metre, including Revelstoke, Kimberley and Big White.

The snow report is provided by The Ski Club of Great Britain. For more detailed information and weather forecasts, visit skiclub.co.uk.