Europe Daily Snow
By Luke Stone, Forecaster Posted 3 days ago April 10, 2025
Summer Now, Winter This Weekend
Summary
The warming trend continues this week with a dwindling low-elevation snowpack. Starting this weekend, though, a very wet pattern will develop across the southern Alps that will persist for a week or more. This active pattern will be warm initially, but some cooler air should filter in during the middle of next week allowing for some better quality snow and lower snow levels.
Short Term Forecast
This will be just a quick update today as we wait for the next round of storms to move in. We should stay dry for three more days before things get active again this weekend. On Saturday, a low-pressure system will develop in the northeast Atlantic and then start moving southeast towards Spain and France.
This process will take several days, and then another several for the low to split off from the parent low and move into the Alps. A long-duration period of moist southerly flow will result, bringing copious amounts of moisture to the region, especially the southwestern Alps.
It's nearly mid-April, so cold air is much harder to come by. Temperatures will be warm for the first several days of this storm cycle, with 2100 - 2400 m snow levels through around Wednesday morning. The models do show some cooler air moving in on Wednesday, with snow levels falling to around 1500 m. This would allow for some better quality snow and potentially some decent powder conditions late Wednesday and Thursday.
This is still a week away, though, so confidence is low at this time. Let's look at the total precipitation from this weekend through next to see just how juicy this setup is.
A large part of the southern Alps is expected to see 15 to 20 cm of water, most of which will fall as rain below 1500 m. This will continue to wreak havoc on whatever is left of the low-elevation snowpack. Above 2400 m will get absolutely blasted with wet snow, likely 2m or more. Below is the upper-level pattern responsible for this active stretch.
Extended Forecast
At the end of the GIF of the upper-level pattern above, you can see another low pressure developing over northwestern Spain. This would keep the moist southerly flow into the Alps going and bring more high-elevation snow.
My next post will be on Friday.
Thanks for reading the Europe Daily Snow!
Luke Stone
Forecaster, OpenSnow
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