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Welcome to this week’s world snow roundup from www.snow-forecast.com. Our
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Summary:
- Snowy weather yet again for the Alps
- Northern
California to sees its first
storm of the season
- Up to 1m of snow fell in Vermont last week
- Scotland opens for skiing, and closes again
- Skiing begins two weeks early in Bulgaria
- Pyrenees to see some snow at last, but mostly in west
- American Rockies good and
quickly getting better
In
October I reviewed how La Niña and the present state of the North
Atlantic Oscillation would impact on the northern ski season. So
far, things have broadly gone according to the expected pattern. I
mentioned that La Niña years tended to provide Northern California
and the Rockies with late starts to the season and that's exactly
what we have seen - in Colorado and New Mexico, autumn precipitation was just a
third of normal and several resorts had to postpone opening. Nearly
two months after the first heavy snows hit the Pacific NW, the
Colorado Rockies saw their first decent snowfall just a week ago and
by the time you read this, the California and Nevada resorts around
Tahoe will also be seeing their first decent fall of the season -
quite late by their standards. Conditions in the Alps continue to
improve as Westerly winds blow in moist Atlantic air. Only Canada and Japan can rival European
snow accumulations right now. Bulgaria has also joined
in the snow-fest with over 1 metre of early season snow - mostly
falling last week. Just one European major area has missed out so
far - high pressure over the Pyrenees has not strayed very far for
several months but we are increasingly confident that the snow we
predicted in the last editorial will duly arrive this weekend.
Unfortunately, Sierra Nevada skiers will miss out once again. Overall, things are looking rather
promising in the run up to the important Christmas holiday period -
a big contrast to last season in Europe .
As forecast, it has been a fairly unsettled and snowy week over the Alps especially in western and northern areas. Places like Isola 2000 near
Nice however were too far south and too close to high pressure to
collect very much snow from the moist westerly winds - though even
here, a 70cm base on upper slopes makes for good skiing. Resorts in Austria and Germany typically saw 20-40cm of snow
last week and in Switzerland there was enough snow to cause some lifts to close. Verbier reported 45cm of
fresh snow three days ago and skiing is excellent as a result right
across Valais. Many resorts across France are due to open
this weekend including Meribel, Mottaret, Risoul, Courchevel and St
Martin de Belleville. Typical snow depths across the French Alps are
40-70cm. While this is less than in Austria and Switzerland the
continuing west flow brings the prospect of heavy snowfall this
weekend. Quite mild at first, but falling temperatures and strong
winds will soon make things pretty inclement above the trees.
Following the snowfall, there should be a brief sunny weather window
on Tuesday and Wednesday as a ridge of high pressure crosses the
Alps ahead of further Atlantic fronts late in the week. Mid-week snow conditions should be
excellent.
There has been
such great snow in Alpine resorts for so long that I need to remind
myself that the conditions in the Pyrenees are not really that bad for the time
of year. Last week was again cold enough for overnight snow-making.
Current dry weather should give way to cool NW winds and light
snowfalls this weekend although at this stage it doesn't look as if
much snow will penetrate as far east as Andorra. The excellent small
resort of Gourette near Pau is much further west and should
see the most new snow - it opens on December 15th. Some of this
weather should also affect the usually snow-sure small Cantabrian
resorts much further west - resorts like San-Isidro. Snow should
fall here on and off from Saturday through Monday and although we
don't expect great accumulations it will be very welcome following
an unusually dry autumn. No sign of any significant snow over the
next seven days in the Sierra Nevada but at least the nights will be cold enough for
snow-making.
Cairngorm
was open for limited skiing last weekend but mild mid-week weather
depleted the snow depths, currently 20cm at the top with no snow
left at the bottom. Thursday's deep depression will leave a cold
northerly blast in its wake with heavy snow showers and drifting
snow on Friday and the prospect of a better day on Saturday when
lifts should be able to operate again. With weather systems moving
off the Atlantic in quick succession, the week ahead looks very
mixed - stormy and mild on Sunday, cold and snowy north winds again
on Monday, more settled on Tuesday and mild too before the next
system rattles through mid-week. Watch the detailed forecasts and
snow reports to make the most of any brief weather windows in the
Highlands .
The west flow continues to drive weather systems through the sea area between Scotland and Iceland but rising pressure over nearby Russia these systems are not continuing across Scandinavia
as they were previously. Instead, they are exiting to the north
around the top of the high. As a result, it looks like the current
snowy spell may be the last for a while and drier and colder
continental air may soon edge in from the south east - it is finely
balanced. With a couple more days of snow expected and 50cm of cover
typical, the prospect of a spell of cold and dry weather must be
very welcome.
The heavy snow that we predicted for
Borovets turned up on Tuesday and they have opened two weeks early
as a result. It will remain below freezing with showery snow there
over the next 7 days. A heavier spell of snow on Saturday
night in the mountains of Greece - heaviest in Mountains around
the Gulf of Corninth where 20cm seems likely
which is good news for resorts like Helmos near Patras and Parnassos, near
Athens Winter has arrived in Lebanon in the
Middle East too. There is currently
a very unsettled mix with strong winds and thunderstorms in Beirut on Thursday night and snow
falling at the high ski areas nearby. It will be windy and often
snowy through the weekend but becoming much milder and settled again
next week. Not cold enough for significant snow at Mt Hermon in Israel
this time, although it is some way off, prospects for the
weekend of Dec 15th are quite hopeful with the chance that cold and
snowy NW winds will affect the mountains of both countries
Canadian Rockies and West Coast
Whistler
has around 1.2 metres of snow cover including about 70cm that fell
earlier in the week. It has been dry since then and that 70cm has
been greatly compressed. Temperatures are currently well below
freezing, even at resort level and it looks like staying that way
over the coming week - always a relief in a La Niña year. Thursday
was overcast but Friday / this coming weekend and beyond should see
some good sunshine as a ridge of high pressure builds in off the
Pacific. There is just a chance of light snow on Sunday afternoon,
but nothing substantial until the end of the week. Inland, the
Canadian Rockies at places like Banff are in great shape too. Apart
from that band of snow arriving a day later, the forecast is broadly
similar - the weekend looks settled but very cold - not getting much
above -20 deg C.
American Rockies
Before
December began, all of the snow action was north of the border in Canada.
Since then however, conditions over the American Rockies have greatly
improved. A deepening weather system currently over Nevada looks like drifting about the four
corners for a few days before exiting into the Gulf of Mexico. Places like
Colorado and New Mexico should see heavy snowfalls again. Taos currently has just 50cm of
snow but as a result of this storm we expect things to be much
better before they open in just 8 days time (14th). In Colorado where many resorts have recently opened, clouds are building and
more snow is forecast. Vail currently has 46cm of snow following a
28cm fall last weekend and we expect a similar amount to fall on
Thursday and Friday. A lot of cloud and further snow showers through
the weekend as the low pressure system slowly moves away south,
filling as it goes.
Almost 1m of snow fell in parts of Vermont last week, jump-starting
the season at places like Stowe where 5 lifts are serving 35 pistes
(Thursday 6th). Very cold (max -6C, (21F)) with light snow and
snow showers maintaining fresh conditions over the next few days at
Stowe. Another band of more significant snow arrives on Tuesday,
though snow quantities should be relatively modest - more
significant further north for places like Tremblant.
Although we provide forecasts for
over 250 Japanese resorts, this major ski area will only be
occasionally featured in the weekly editorial. This is because the
vast majority of skiers there are not yet users of our site - the
Japanese resort forecasts are relatively recent additions. Another
reason to omit Japan is the climate. Outside of snowsure Hokkaido the weather is very
varied, difficult to forecast and almost impossible to succinctly
describe. This is because wintertime finds most of
Japan sitting astride the boundary between tropical air and the icy continental
Asian airmass which means that freezing levels vary enormously over
very small distances - a situation akin to the Appalachians , but further complicated by
having sea on both sides. While flat light days and regular power
falls are a feature of winter on the northern
island Hokkaido a place
where winter snowfall is almost relentless, further south things are
very complicated and brief mild spells are common, especially the
further south and east you go. Right now, Furano on
Hokkaido has just over 1m of snow, including a 20cm fall last night that missed
nearby Niseko Hirafu. We expect typical December weather over the next 7
days - cold, often cloudy and with snow on and off throughout.
Further south, on the big island of Honshu where most people live,
Hakuba currently has representative conditions - very good for so
early in the season. Friday saw fresh wet snow falling on a 1m base.
Snow is expected to turn to rain below mid-mountain for a time
today. Easterly winds should keep the weather cool over much of
Honshu in the coming week quite snowy through the weekend and again on Tuesday, but with fine
spells between.
Best wishes,
The snow-forecast team
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World Snow News no.
23
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