Ok, everyone, it's time to start chasing storms. A few resorts are open, more are opening this weekend and next week, and we have two significant storms on the horizon. Below is a list of resorts that are open (or will open) and will get snow from the first storm.

• Andermatt
• Arosa
• Ischgl 
• Engelberg 
• Davos 
• Montafon
• Gurgl
• Axamer Lizum
• Bergeralm 
• Hochfügen 
• Kitzbühel Resterhöhe 
• Sportgastein
• Obertauern 
• Schladming/Reiteralm 
• St. Anton
• Gargellen

Most, if not all of these ae only partial openings, so check out the websites for all the details. 

As far as the storm goes, we are bracing for a strong Nordstau this weekend, the deails of which can be read about here. To summarize, a strong upper-level low pressure system will park itself over eastern Europe, funneling cold arictic air and moisture from the North Sea into the eastern Alps. This will result in an extended period of heavy snow from this morning (Friday) through early Sunday. 

The heaviest snow will be in the Vorarlberg and Tirol regions in Austria, where 50 - 100 cms are expected. Heading west into the Swiss Alps, snow totals will be simialr. The western Swiss Alps and the central and eastern Austrian Alps wil see less snow, in the 25 - 50 cms range. Snow will be limited to < 15 cms in most of the French Alps, with even less in the leeward Italian Alps.

Below is the snow forecast from the European model for the first storm.

We'll have a break from Sunday night through around Monday night before the next system arrives. The upper-level low will keep spinning over eastern Europe eventually sending a wave southwest towards the western Alps.

This wave will progress through the Alps pretty quickly, brinigng a period of westerly winds, favoring the French Alps, before the winds shift more to the northwest and then north, favoring the Swiss Alps and the western Austrian Alps as well. 

Overall, this will not be as strong of a storm, with 20 - 40 cms across the French and Swiss Alps, and less for the southern French Alps and Austrian Alps.

After the storm winds down Wedneasday, we should see a bit of a break in the action. As early as Thursday though, a system coming from the west off the Atlantic should move into the region. The models don't yet agree on the exact timing, with some holding off until Friday or Saturday for the arrival of this storm. More details in the next post. 

Thanks for reading the Europe Daily Snow! Check out this short clip from last week in Utah, where 22" of snow fell in thirty-six hours. Follow me @lstone84 on Instagram to track and chase storms all winter long!

Luke Stone
Forecaster, OpenSnow

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