I talked about the setup for this storm in the last post, and the main details haven't changed much. A deep and strong upper-level low will slowly make its way across central Europe over the next six days, delivering huge snow totals. A plume of subtropical moisture will cause snow levels to rise later in the storm, but on the whole, this will be great for building the snowpack. 

The main change in the forecast from a few days ago pertains to the warm-up at the end of the storm. Unfortunately, this surge of subtropical moisture and warm air looks to be more pervasive, resulting in higher snow levels than previously thought.

Temperatures start to climb on Saturday night, and between Monday night and Wednesday, snow levels will be in the 2400 - 2700 m range. Ugh. Most of the precipitation will have already fallen at this time. Since this is such an anonymously moist storm, however, the small percentage of remaining moisture still equates to 2.5 to 5 cms of water. 

Additionally, this will produce dangerous avalanche conditions. A large amount of rain on top of a lot of recently fallen snow is a recipe for disaster. For building a solid base to last through the season, this storm is most welcomed. 

The Weststau and Nordsweststau favored parts of the French and Swiss Alps should see .75 - 1.5 m of snow, as will resorts in Italy along the France/Switzerland borders. Along the favored slopes of the Austrian Alps, .5 - 1m is expected. As you move into the leeward aspects on the east and southern sides of the Alps, totals will decrease. The northern side of the Austrian Alps will do well too, with .5 - 1m expected in the western resorts with amounts dropping off as you move east. Check out the snow forecast from the European model below.

There will only be a short break between storms, as the next system quickly approaches. This is a smaller and faster storm that will take a more northwesterly track, compared to the west-to-east storms of late. Overall, this will favor the Austrian Alps, but the northern/western side of the entire range will do well. Temperatures will start warm but will cool down by the end, resulting in a nice right-side up storm. 

In Austria, this could bring another .5 - 1m of snow, with 30 - 60 cms in France and Switzerland. This is just an early guess and will be updated moving forward. 

Thanks for reading the Europe Daily Snow! Check out this short clip from this past weekend in Aspen, where nearly 3 feet of snow fell in twenty-four hours. Follow me @lstone84 on Instagram to track and chase storms all winter long!

Luke Stone
Forecaster, OpenSnow