The last few days have seen some healthy falls of snow across the Alps, mostly in France, Italy and Switzerland. Snow has fallen at elevations as low as 600m and temperatures are set to remain cool for the next couple of days, so conditions are looking promising for the next week or so.
Andorra in the Pyrenees has not had quite as much of the recent snow as Alpine resorts with new snowfalls of only about five to 10cm in recent days. Resorts here could still do with a significant fall of snow to refresh the pistes.
Some 10 to 20cm of new snow has fallen across all French resorts over the weekend, and this has improved conditions throughout as temperatures have remained below freezing and lower slopes in need of new snow have been replenished.
Poor visibility caused by the fresh snowfalls have resulted in lift closures in several resorts, such as Les Arcs, Tignes and Val Thorens. Similarly in Switzerland, most resorts are now fully open and are reporting very good piste conditions throughout.
However, upper runs on resorts such as Verbier and St Moritz have been closed due to limited visibility. Resorts in the Italian Dolomites such as Bormio, Madonna di Campiglio and Cortina have had up to 25cm of new snow, and the Italian Alps (Courmayeur, La Thuile, Sestriere) have had some 10cm of new snow, and piste conditions are excellent throughout.
Austria has had some new snow, but not quite as much as elsewhere in the Alps. Accumulations of up to 20cm have fallen, with the heaviest falls in western resorts such as Ischgl, Galtur and Obergurgl. Farther east in Austria, resorts such as Zel am Zee and Kitzbuhel are still suffering from a lack of snow at lower elevations and resort runs, if open, are still patchy.
In the US and Canada conditions continue to be very good, in particular in eastern US resorts such as Killington and Stowe in New Hampshire, where the recent heavy snowfalls have given rise to excellent conditions both on and off piste.
However, temperatures have been very low, with last November and December being the coldest on record in the US. Canadian resorts such as Whistler, Lake Louise and Sunshine are also reporting very good piste conditions.
The outlook for the Alps over the next couple of days is for the present snowfalls to move eastwards towards Austria, which should receive up to 40cm of new snow by tomorrow. This will be followed by high pressure, which will bring cool, clear weather to most areas.
The Pyrenees will receive only light snowfalls over the next couple of days, in the order of 10cm or so. In North America, snowfalls are set to hit the west coast of Canada by Wednesday, while a high pressure region will be established over central USA bringing cool, clear conditions to the Rockies and eastern resorts, with light snowfalls possible in Vail or Breckenbridge.
Snow Reports supplied by Snowpiste.com