We'll have a little bit of a lull in the western Alps today, Saturday, as this first wave moves to the east. Snow will wind down, albeit briefly, from west to east throughout the day. 

The next phase of the storm arrives early Sunday morning, with an associated warm front. This is the dreaded warm phase of the storm, and temperatures will climb slowly through Tuesday morning. Snow will change over to rain, unfortunately, thanks to the subtropical moisture associated with this atmospheric river. Models still have snow levels peaking around 2700 m in France, Switzerland, and Italy, and around 2400 m in Austria. Being on the leeward side of the Alps with this Nordweststau, impacts in the Italian Alps will be much less significant.

The next storm will move in on Monday afternoon, with a cold front, and temperatures will slowly fall. The atmospheric river will have moved out of the area as the jet stream and upper level pattern remain progressive. This system will keep things going through Wednesday, with rain turning back to snow. Totals aren't too big with this fast moving system. 

Then storms keep coming, and after a short break Wednesday afternoon, snow ramps up again Thursday morning as snow levels slowly fall. Towards the end of the week, another strong storm will impact the Alps. This Nordstau is looking colder and has the potential to bring big snow totals once again. 

Are you keeping up?

Below is a snow map through Wednesday, and I will get into the details of the other storms tomorrow.

We may FINALLY get a break towards the end of next weekend. This has been and will continue to be a fantastic start to the season for the northern/western side of the Alps, especially in France. 

Thanks for reading the Europe Daily Snow! Follow me @lstone84 on Instagram to track and chase storms all winter long!

Luke Stone
Forecaster, OpenSnow