Our first significant storm is already underway this morning and will continue to bring snow to the Alps and Pyrenees through Sunday. A second storm early next week will bring another extended period of snow. By the middle of next week, some areas of the southern Alps in Italy and Austria could see 1.5 - 2 m. The southern Alps continue to try and catch up with this February surge. 

In yesterday's post, I discussed the storm track and associated wind patterns that will allow heavy snow to accumulate across most of the Alps and Pyrenees. Let's take a look a the winds at different points in the storm to see how this is possible. In the early part of the storm, you can see southwest winds that will favor the western Alps in France.

Winds begin to turn south-southwest, which favors the southern Alps, especially in eastern Italy and Austria.

Finally, later in the storm, winds on the northern side of the Alps will turn west-northwest, allowing for the northern Austrian Alps to see a period of heavier snow.

Below you can see the evolution of the upper-level pattern that produces the different wind directions during this storm. You can also see the next major storm approaching at the end of the GIF. 

The snow forecast from yesterday remains the same, and I've posted that below. I've also added when the best powder days (in italics) for each of these regions might be as well. 

• Western Alps (France/Switzerland - Friday)/Eastern/northern Alps (Austria - Friday/Saturday): 25 - 50 cms, with isolated > 60 cms in the Haute-Savoie and Hautw-Alpes could exceed 60 cms. 
• Southern Alps (Italy - Friday/Sunday and Austria - Friday/Saturday): .5 - 1 m (Karnten region of Austria and the Udine, Sondrio, and Bergamo regions of Italy)
• Western Pyrenees - Sunday: 20 - 40 cm range, with 5 - 15 cms on the eastern side

The latest snow forecast from the European model for the first storm is below.

The second storm will arrive on Sunday in the Pyrnees and Monday in the Alps. The track of the storm should be pretty similar to the first storm, so the same areas should get hit hard, with the bullseye on the southern Alps once again. The latest guidance shows significant additional accumulations in the western Alps as well. The northern Alps in Switzerland and Austria may not see as much snow as the first storm, as the upper-level low tracks farther south resulting in minimal west/northwest flow. I will have more details in future posts, but an early look at the snow forecast is shown below.

The pattern looks to stay active later next week and into the weekend. It's too early for specifics, but the long-range models show another upper-level low moving into central Europe, keeping the chances for snow going well into the first week of March.

Thanks for reading the Europe Daily Snow!

Luke Stone
Forecaster, OpenSnow