Exceptional Snow Depths on Alpine Glaciers
Snow depths in the Alps are at historic highs after more heavy snowfall over the past 10 days on top of already deep accumulations built up through one of the snowiest winters this century. Probably THE snowiest this century in many areas.
Engelberg (below) in Switzerland’s Titlis glacier is reporting a 7.4m (nearly 25 feet) base after almost 1.5m (five feet) of snowfall there in the last week of March. It’s the deepest base in the world at present and believed to be the first time ski area in the Alps has posted a 7m+ snow depth for many years. It’s open for snowsports until mid-May.
In Austria the Dachstein Glacier (below) has gone past the 6m (20 feet) base depth after 50cm of snowfall there in the past few days. It’s at 6.2m (nearly 21 feet).
The big snow accumulations are particularly noteworthy as nine months ago Europe’s glaciers were suffering from hot spring and summer conditions in central Europe which saw temperatures in the valleys soar up towards 40C at times and positive temperature even at 3000-4000m up in the Alps so high that glacial now cover in 2017 largely melted away.
Above 2.700 m.
Gepostet von Vigh Györgyi am Montag, 2. April 2018
Several glacier ski areas were forced to suspend summer ski operations and the Dachstein glacier announced it would cancel long-running autumn ski and board camps on the glacier for fear of damage to the underlying glacial ice.
Most glaciers in the Alps are reporting at least three metres (10 feet) of snow cover as we near the end of the 2017-18 ski season and the start of the 2018 spring and summer ski season. It will be interesting to see how hot it gets through the spring and summer and whether the thickness of the snow will stop the sun reaching the underlying glacial ice again this year.
