Showers continued over the last twenty-four hours with a few isolated areas receiving heavy snow. On the northern/western side of the Alps, the northwest-oriented Haut-Brede area is perfectly oriented for the northeast winds that prevailed over the last day. This area received 25 - 35 cms of snow. 

While most areas in the Alps and Pyrenees will continue to see snow showers, other orographically favored areas could see periods of moderate to heavy snow. 

The showery pattern continues through Wednesday as the cut-off upper-level low remains stalled over southern Italy and then starts to drift west away from the overall flow. 

As this feature meanders across Spain, it will get some energy from the ocean and restrengthen. As a result, the Pyrenees and later the southwestern Alps will see another period of moderate to heavy snow from Wednesday to Thursday. 

If the storm stays far enough north before finally getting recaptured by the prevailing westerly winds, significant accumulations will be possible, especially in the Pyrenees. Check out the latest snow forecast from the European model for this storm.

Most of the Alps should be dry from Thursday through Sunday. The next chance for snow is Monday, as the large, deep, and strong upper-level low sags south. The impacts from this storm will depend on just how far south the upper-level low gets. The latest guidance gives the Alps more of a glancing blow rather than a major storm, but there’s plenty of time for that to change. This feature is pulling arctic air down from the north, so any snow that does fall should be low density. Check out the temperature anomaly map below, showing the cold air moving in from the north around mid-month.

Thanks for reading the Europe Daily Snow!

Luke Stone
Forecaster, OpenSnow