Europe Daily Snow

Heads up, there may be fresher snow! Read the latest Europe Daily Snow

By Luke Stone, Forecaster Posted 1 year ago January 22, 2023

Southern Side of the Alps Get Deep in the Short Term, Especially Austria

Summary

A strong upper level low pressure system off the coast of Italy will direct moisture towards the Alps for the next several days. The southern side of the Alps will be favored with this pattern, especially in Austria. East facing slopes in the western Alps should also do well during this period. A bigger storm looks possible for next weekend.

Short Term Forecast

The last week has been a good one for the Alps and Pyrenees if you love powder. The Pyrenees got crushed during this time, with plenty of snow in the Alps too. Conditions are getting back to normal and there’s more snow in the short and long term. Before we get into the forecast, let's look at the transformation of Cauterets in the French Pyrenees. Below is what the mid mountain (1800m) looked like one week ago, with a lot of bare ground in the background.

Next we have the same webcam, from the middle of the storm, with very deep accumulations on the picnic tables, and still a lot more snow to come. 

Finally, we have have a third view from the same webcam, this time on Friday 1/20. The storm was mostly done by this point, but you can see all the dirt/rocks in the background are now completely filled in. It looks like a totally different resort. I would have loved to be there when they opened up some of their better terrain once this storm wrapped up.

The Pyrenees really got nailed by this storm, drastically improving conditions in this range. Pretty cool to see. 

Forecast for Sunday 1/22 - Wednesday 1/25

Light snow continues to fall in the Alps. This will persist through the weekend before snow becomes heavier Monday afternoon. This period of heavy snow will impact the southern side of the Austrian Alps and the east facing slopes of the western Alps in Italy the most. Snow will continue through Tuesday morning in Italy, and Tuesday afternoon in the Alps. Another wave of moderate snow may impact the Italian Alps on Wednesday as well. This long duration snowfall is due to an upper level storm lingering off the west Coast of Italy. As it retrogrades West, with little movement, counter clockwise flow around the low pressure will send a steady stream of moisture toward the Alps.

Southeastly winds will bring strong terrain induced precipitation to the southern side of the Austrian Alps. At the same time, in the western Alps, winds will be more from the east, delivering heavy upslope snow to the east facing part of the western Alps, in Italy. 

This is reflected in the locations of the heaviest snow totals in the European snow forecast map below.

Expect 20-40 cms generally, with 50-80 cms possible in south facing parts of the Austrian Alps, like Weinebene, Hebalm Am Packsattel, Koralpe, Modriach, and Petzen. 

Additional light snow is possible for the Pyrenees during this period as well, with 8-16 cms slowly stacking up by Wednesday.

Forecast for Thursday 1/26 - Friday 1/27

Some snow showers and light snow are possible in the central/eastern Alps and Pryenees during the latter part of the week, but right now this is looking like just a minor event with around 8-16 cms possible. A nice little wave to keep things fresh before the next storm.  

Extended Forecast

Outlook for Saturday 1/28 - Wednesday 2/1

The next system looks to arrive later Saturday night to Monday timeframe, depending on the model, this time from the North. The models disagree on how far west the storm will track, resulting in significant differences in snow totals. If the storm is farther west, a few waves of heavy snow are likely, focusing on the northern slopes of the Alps. If the storm takes a more easterly track, the heaviest snow would be restricted to the eastern Alps (Austria) with lower totals overall. Let’s hope this difference in the storm track sorts itself out over the next few days.

Thanks for reading the forecast. Follow me @lstone84 on Instagram to track and chase storms all Winter long! 

About Our Forecaster

Luke Stone

Forecaster

Luke Stone earned his M.S. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Utah, with a research focus on seasonal forecasting. Luke has scored deep days around the world, including coast-to-coast across the United States, Canada, and Europe.

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