Temperatures have warmed, and the sun is shining, but there’s still some powder to be skied. The quality may be decreasing, but on high-elevation north-facing aspects, you can still find some nice turns in the powder from the recent storm cycle, the left one to 2 m of snow Over a wide area of the northern Alps.

This warm and dry stretch will continue through at least Thursday, with the next storm arriving sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning. Over the last few days, the models have trended weaker with the first storm as well as shifting the heaviest snow from the northern French and western Swiss Alps to the eastern Swiss in the Austrian Alps. The next storm in this Cycle will bring better snow accumulations, too.  The next storm in this Cycle will bring better snow accumulations to the French Alps and western Swiss Alps.  

This storm cycle should last through at least January 5, but the models show additional weaker storms possible during the early part of the second week in January. Overall, the greatest snow totals are expected in the northern French Alps through the central Swiss Alps, with lesser totals in the Austrian Alps. Once again, the northern side of the Alps will be favored with winds out of the west-northwest through north during the storms. The first storm in this series will be the coldest, with more high-quality, low-density snow expected, but the following storms will feature warmer temperatures and a rise in snow levels before temperatures cool off later in the cycle.

High-end accumulations in the French Alps could range from 40 to 80 cm, with 30 to 60 cm in the Swiss Alps and 20 to 40 cm in the western Austrian Alps. The heaviest periods of snow are expected from Thursday night through Friday and then Saturday night through Sunday, although there’s still some time for these details to change.

As of the 00z model runs this morning, the focus returns to the French Alps. The latest storm track brings each system closer, adding to the totals, and brings a much stronger system further south to close out the active stretch.

A break in the action as possible, toward the midd week of the month, as another ridge is predicted to develop in Western Europe. At the moment, this ridge doesn’t appear to stick around for too long with some models, indicating a return to active weather the following week

My next post will be on Monday.

Thanks for reading the Europe Daily Snow!

Luke Stone
Forecaster, OpenSnow

Create Snow Alerts

Never miss another snow day with custom snow reports and forecast alerts for your favorite ski resorts.

1. Go to any ski resort screen.
2. Tap the bell icon in the upper right.
3. Set your 24-hour snow report and/or forecast threshold.

You can also go to Settings > Notifications > Snow Forecasts & Reports to edit any snow alert you have created. Forecast alerts are available exclusively for All-Access subscribers.

Regions of the Alps