There are no major changes from yesterday's forecast, as three storms are headed for Western Europe over the next week. Two of the storms will feature warm temperatures and high snow levels, but we should end with a good thump of snow, cooler air, and lower snow levels later next week. 

The first storm, which will impact the region from Saturday night through Sunday, will bring high snow levels and rain at lower elevations. Fortunately, it will move through the Alps quickly, limiting damage at mid- and lower elevations while depositing 5 - 15 cm above 2000 m from the northern French Alps through the western Austrian Alps. 

The next storm will arrive on Monday and continue through Tuesday afternoon. This will be a colder storm with snow levels down to around 1000 m following the cold front. The western storm track will favor the French Alps, where 15 - 30 cm will be possible, with 5 - 15 cm further east in the Swiss and western Austrian Alps.  

This system may split as it crosses the Alps, resulting in a period of southerly flow into the southern Alps of Italy and Australia. This would result in heavy snow and 10 - 20 cm +.

The third storm in this series moves in on Wednesday and will bring another period of moderate to heavy precipitation. Another warm-up is expected with this system, though snow levels shouldn't get as high as they will with the weekend storm. This is stronger than storm #2, and once again, with the westerly track, the French Alps will be favored. I'll have more details, including accumulations, in a future post, but this could definitely produce more than .5 m in the French Alps.

Watch how these three storms play out below. 

A ridge is expected to develop next weekend and stick around for at least a week. Thje location of the ridge over the northeast Atlantic/western Europe will force the storm track to the east of the Alps. However, the track will be close enough to the Austrian Alps that a small western shift in the ridge could result in a pattern favorable for the eastern Alps.

My next post will be on Sunday.

Thanks for reading the Europe Daily Snow!

Luke Stone
Forecaster, OpenSnow

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Regions of the Alps