On Thursday 28th:

• Swedish and Finnish Lapland can get between 5-15cm of snow as a small storm tracks East in Northern Scandinavia in the morning and early afternoon. Winds pick up to moderate-strong levels as the storm passes during morning, but ease off in the afternoon. Valley temperatures are around zero in the afternoon, but air aloft should be sufficiently cool for mid to low-density snow. Aim to ski in the early afternoon as the storm begins to ease off to score the best turns.
• During the late afternoon, a new storm lands on the SW coast. Freezing levels are around 1100m, and most of the precipitation will be rain or mixed. The storm tracks NE across Sweden during the evening. Generally, the southern half of Scandinavia will experience high freezing levels and wet precipitation.

The 1000mb-500mb thickness chart indicates the properties of the airmass in terms of average temperature and moisture content. Within the red areas, rain is the likely precipitation form.

The storm that tracks East in Northern Scandinavia during Thursday brings low to mid-density snow to Lapland. In the SW, precipitation will fall as rain or mixed below 900-1000m elevation. 

During Friday precipitation falls mainly in central and Northern Sweden. A cooling trend starts in the early morning, and there is a good chance snow will fall in Jämtland also towards the afternoon and result in a right-side-up snowpack. Jämtland can get 5-10cm of thick snow and Västerbotten around 5-10cm of light-density snow by afternoon. Winds pick up to strong levels at ridge-top as the storm passes. For the best snow quality, aim to ski in the afternoon as snow trends lighter. In the North cloud cover breaks and the sun can come out. Get out on skis to enjoy the snow from Thursday!

On early Saturday morning the leftovers of the storm track into Northern Sweden and eventually into Finnish Lapland in the afternoon. Not much of the moisture is left though, but around 5-10cm of low-density snowfall by Saturday evening. In the SW another warm storm lands around evening. 

Jämtland and Västerbotten are favored for the storm that tracks North on Friday and Saturday:

On Sunday, the weakening storm tracks NE, and precipitation can be expected along its track. Another cooling trend sets in as cold air from the North pushes into Scandinavia.

The ensemble models don't quite agree on how the pattern will line up over Scandinavia for next week. They all however, indicate that a cooling trend will take place, and the NW and North Norwegian coast might be getting favored again due to the northern flow. 

Thanks for reading Scandinavia Daily Snow. The next update will be on Sunday. 

Joonas Kortelainen

Local Forecaster, OpenSnow

NEW: Snow Ratio Forecast

You can now get a good idea of the upcoming snow quality for the next storm via our new "Snow Ratio" forecast for any location in OpenSnow.

When we talk about snow quality, such as “light and fluffy” or “heavy and wet”, we are talking about the snow-to-liquid ratio. The higher the snow-to-liquid ratio, the lighter the snow quality, and vice-versa.

1. Go to any location screen and tap the "Snow Summary" tab.
2. Scroll down to the 5-day hourly or 10-day forecast section.
3. View the 5-day hourly or daily "Snow Ratio" forecast for the next 10 days.

10:1 will be fun but will feel a little heavy. 15:1 will offer some faceshots and feel pretty light. 20:1 will be incredibly light, almost like skiing through nothing but air.

This new feature is currently available with the latest version of the OpenSnow iOS app installed (App Store > OpenSnow > Update) or on the OpenSnow website (OpenSnow.com). It will be available in the OpenSnow Android app soon.

View → Snow Ratio Forecast