24 Hour Snowfall Totals Up to 80cm in the Alps

Following a tough start to the season, a big snowstorm that hit the Alps over the weekend and continues this week has led to some huge snow accumulations over the past 24 hours with some resorts claiming that as much as 80cm (32 inches) fell on Sunday. Many resorts report at least 50cm (20 inches) – and the snow is still falling.

It appears to be great timing for this significant weather event that looks set to bring more than a metre of snow to some centres by the time it eases tomorrow. With the main ski season getting underway next weekend and two of the busiest weeks of winter over Christmas and New Year only a fortnight away, winter holidaymakers and snow businesses are relieved that it’s not looking like the “brown christmas” of a couple of years ago.

Meribel in the 3 Valleys, France (pictured above this morning) and the famous ‘powder pocket’of Flachauwinkl in Austria have both posted the biggest 24-hour snowfall totals so far with 80cm of new snow.  Arosa in Switzerland reported 70cm in the  same time and a second 3 Valleys ski area, Val Thorens, 60cm since Sunday.

In the short term though, a number of ski areas have been forced to close all or part of their slopes due to the extreme weather, with strongwinds causing bigger problems than the snowfall in many cases.

The World Cup Men’s Slalom in Val d’Isère was cancelled yesterday as conditions deteriorated to the point where wind gusts of over 100km/h were blowing in.

A new lift at Hochzillertal in Austria also suffered a majorincident as cabins piled in to one another on the cable – fortunately no one was onboard at the time.