Temperatures have been scorching hot across Spain, France, and Italy, with some of the hottest days ever recorded for the second half of August. The culprit has been a persistent ridge pumping warm air into the region, as seen below. This has been the average upper level pattern between Tuesday 8/15 through Friday 8/25.

Upper level ridges, or areas of high pressure, like this, are often referred to as heat domes, which are explained in the diagram below.

Fortunately, an upper level trough, or area of low pressure, has displaced the stubborn ridge, as shown below.

The ridge centered over Spain in the red colors weakens and then is replaced by an upper level trough bringing with it stormy weather. The rain started on Sunday but turned to snow at upper elevations during the afternoon and will continue through the day today.

Check out the snow forecast from the European model below.

Not bad for August! This model is probably a bit overdone, and the warm temperatures will keep accumulations to the highest elevations of France, Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. Snow levels may fall as low as 2100 - 2400 m on Monday, and around 2600 m in Austria. We could see 30 - 70 cms up high, and it's already dumping as I write this post. Check out the clip from Val Thorens this morning, where they woke up to heavy snow!

Temperatures should stay cool through much of the week before climbing above normal again on Friday.

Thanks for reading and I hope you get out and enjoy the snow!