August Snowfall Across The Alps

There has been a major change in the weather in the alps, after weeks which saw record high altitude temperatures abruptly ended, temperatures plummeted and significant summer snowfall is underway.

A major storm system has brought torrential rain at low levels but snowfall to high slopes, in some cases as low as 1,500m, right across the Alps. Some glaciers may see as much as two feet (60cm) of snowfall over the next few days.

Val d’Isere is pictured above this morning (August 28th). There was some confusion when it posted the image and the one below next to a link to ‘sales of first tracks skiing starting September 1st’. It became clear that it meant winter sales would open on Friday this week!

The snowfall comes less than a fortnight after Swiss meteorologists reported the freezing point in the Alps had hit a new record high, nearly 500m above Western Europe’s highest peak, Mont Blanc. Temperatures on glaciers were still double-digits above freezing at the end of last week.

Four glacier ski areas are currently open in the Alps including Switzerland’s Saas Fee and Zermatt (pictured below this morning) as well as Hintertux in Austria. Italy’s Passo Stelvio closed temporarily last week as the heat impacted its snow cover but is due to review whether ot can reopen thanks to the temperature drop and fresh snowfall, tomorrow.