Storm set to bring snow to the Alps

See where the snow is falling this week in the latest snow report from the Ski Club.

OVERVIEW
Little has changed in Europe over the past few days, with the remnants of last weekend’s storm moving off from Austria, leading to a week of mostly clear skies and calm weather. A new storm is developing this weekend, beginning to snow over the French Alps on Friday, before expanding over a larger area of the Alps for the weekend, hopefully bringing some fresh snow to those areas that are so far lacking. Elsewhere, our Scandinavian resorts have received some recent snow, with the greatest amounts falling over Norway. The storms that delivered significant falls over North America have moved off for the most part, and while some resorts are still experiencing snowfall, it is at a lighter rate. A number of new resorts, most notably in the Rockies and around Colorado, are opening this weekend in time for thanksgiving, as are some of our featured Canadian resorts.

Based on current weather forecasts for the next nine days, the top three resorts for expected snowfall are:

Argentiere, France (pictured above) 123cm
Lech, Austria, 122cm
Gstaad, Switzerland, 117cm

AUSTRIA
Austria has had the best snowfall in the Alps so far this winter season. It has settled so far this week, with milder temperatures and sunshine, to provide glorious ski conditions. Due to the fantastic snow conditions that have been on show so far, a number of resort openings have gone ahead as planned. These include: Ischgl (20cm/60cm), Obertauern (0cm/80cm) and Silvretta Montafon (10cm/85cm). The forecast for the next few days is that snow is expected in all resorts, which should improve conditions even more, and hopefully bring forward opening dates of more ski resorts. Zauchensee (35cm/ 55cm) is forecast to have the most snowfall with over 10cm being forecast.

FRANCE
Tignes (30/60cm) and Val Thorens (50/60cm) are the only two early season resorts currently open, the former of which is operating mostly around the Grand Motte glacier, though there is one resort run open. Val Thorens’ offering is somewhat larger, with 14 lifts and 25 runs. Val d’isere (20/45cm) is opening this weekend, though for the time being there will be no link to Tignes available. France is expected to experience the earliest effects of storm Reinhard, with new snowfall starting today getting heaviest on Saturday before starting to ease off on Monday. However, there is another storm forecast to follow on Tuesday that looks to be more significant.

SWITZERLAND
Similarly to Austria the Swiss resorts have been experiencing more mild weather with sunshine. There is some great skiing in particular in Engelberg (20cm/215cm) with a base of already 215cm, which will be a solid base for the winter season ahead. A few of the Swiss resorts will be opening over the weekend notably, St Moritz (13cm/38cm), and Murren (35cm/58cm). The forecast for the next few days is dominated by snow in the Swiss resorts. This will be most notable on Crans Montana (2cm/60cm), and Gstaad (15cm/140cm) which is already having an impressive start. Additionally, Adelboden (9cm/40cm) is forecast to have over 60cm of fresh snow this weekend, which will coincide perfectly for their season opening.

ITALY
The weather over Italy is currently quite calm, with light clouds dotting a sunny sky, leading to good conditions. Though there are only four featured resorts currently open, each of which are providing only limited skiing, there are more beginning operations this weekend, including Arabba (25/48cm) and Courmayeur (10/130cm). The forecast shows light snowfall beginning on Saturday and continuing over the weekend, before briefly pausing on Monday and Tuesday.

ANDORRA
There is currently no skiing at any of our featured Andorran resorts.

SCANDANAVIA
All three of our featured Finnish resorts are open, with overcast skies and snow continuing onto the Friday. Yllas (40cm) is offering the most expensive skiing of the three, with 8 lifts serving 30km of piste; as well as the most significant snow forecast at 33cm over the next 3 days. Conditions are somewhat more mixed in Norway, with overcast conditions and substantial recent snowfall of 30cm in Lilehammer (0/65cm) and 40cm in Trysil (40cm), though the weather looks changeable heading into the weekend, with many resorts predicted both sunny spells and risk of rain. Hemsedal (40cm) is preparing to open today, aiming to begin the season spinning two lifts and two open runs, aided by 25cm of recent snowfall, while Oppdal is also blowing snow in preparation for their November 25 opening. Our two Swedish resorts: Are and Salen, are yet to open for the winter season.

GERMANY
Feldberg (4/15cm) remains our only open German resort, currently operating a single lift and a single run. Conditions are not too poor, considering, with forecasts expected to bring an extended period of snowfall beginning on Saturday.

EASTERN EUROPE
There is currently no skiing at any of our featured Eastern European resorts.

SCOTLAND
There is currently no skiing at any of our featured Scottish resorts.

USA
Skiing conditions in the US look generally positive heading into thanksgiving weekend. Beaver Creek (46cm), Steamboat (30cm) and Vail (46cm) in Colorado celebrate their opening weekends with a small number of lifts, as does Jackson Hole (81/132cm) on an already huge snow base. The storms that delivered much of the recent snowfall have now moved off, leaving pleasant sunny riding conditions in many resorts, with the best options currently being the Pacific resorts, Mammoth (50/152cm) in particular. Little substantial snow is forecast for the next few days, with the more remote resorts of Jackson and Timberline (71cm) being the exception. More is due to arrive on Monday however.

In the Californian resorts we are experiencing milder temperatures, with all resorts recording temperatures of above +5C. However there is good news, with more snow forecast for the weekend. In Timberline (71cm), they are reporting similar weather conditions; however they are forecasting over 30cm of fresh over the weekend. On the East Coast, the resorts are experiencing much more winter-like conditions, with cloud and snowfall. In particular Sugar Bush (18cm/76cm), which is forecasting 8cm of fresh snow today. Smugglers Notch (15cm/25cm) will be opening over the weekend, and they are forecasting over 8cm of fresh snow for the opening weekend. Over the weekend all of the east coast resorts have forecasted fresh snow.

CANADA
Much of Canada is once again experiencing ongoing snowfall, with several resorts having experienced light dustings many nights this week. The base in Banff resorts have continued to grow, with Lake Louise (95/121cm) showing an especially deep base. Several new resorts – Big White (95cm), Tremblant (0/36cm) and Silver Star (62/92cm) –  all begin their operations this weekend. The current snow looks to stay in place at least until Sunday, or Monday for some resorts, with the potential for Whistler (150cm) to receive 75cm in that time, with lower amounts across many other resorts.

JAPAN
There is currently no skiing at any of our featured Japanese resorts.