Southern Hemisphere Weekly Roundup #257

• South American Andes Lead with Fresh Snowfall and Deepest Snowpacks
• Australian Ski Season Ends Early Amid Record Warm Weather
• New Zealand Ski Areas Face Weather Challenges but Enjoy Fresh Powder
• Argentinian Ski Resorts Report Strong Snow Depths and High Terrain Availability
• Chilean Ski Areas Enjoy Sun and Snow Showers, Nearing Season's End

In the southern hemisphere, meteorological springtime has begun, bringing warmer temperatures to most areas. This shift has led to the closure of the first ski centres for the 2024 season. 

South America has experienced more snowfall, and New Zealand's ski areas have seen some snow during a turbulent week marked by strong winds and occasional rain. Despite an Antarctic blast at the start of the week, warm weather has continued to affect Australian ski areas. More than half of these areas have now closed for the season, typically 3-5 weeks earlier than expected. The few lifts still in operation are limited to significantly reduced terrain.

In Southern Africa, the ski season concluded over the weekend with Afriski's annual 'Winterfest' in Lesotho. This event coincided with some of the coldest and snowiest weather of the astronomical winter hitting the region.

SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE INTRO

Ski areas in the southern hemisphere are starting meteorological springtime with mixed conditions. Everywhere though, temperatures have been rising but everywhere too, there's been some snowfall in the last seven days during colder spells. The South American Andes seem to have been holding up the best and have also seen the freshest snowfall this week with 50cm/20" 24-hour accumulations reported at some Argentinian centres – which continue to post the world's deepest snow and most extensive ski domains currently open. In Australia, it has been another week of record warm weather in parts of the country, leading to a growing list of centres deciding to end their seasons earlier than hoped as the snow has melted away. Those few still open have much-reduced terrain available.  But the past few days, since the start of September really, have seen an improvement with cold air and snow arriving from the Antarctic. Finally, in New Zealand, where the 24-25 World Cup Tour battled against gales, rain, and snow to get started, it's been a challenging week with some fresh snow raising smiles, but the aforementioned rain and gales as strong as 160kph/100 mph leading to multi-day centre closures. The season finished in Southern Africa at the end of last month.

AUSTRALIA REPORT

Australia had a mixed week with some light snow showers, giving respite to the warm weather (one resort manager described the combination of warm weather and a stiff wind as being like a hairdryer on the snow). Late August saw record winter highs in the country, with some cities touching +38C and warm weather in the mountains, too. Still, an Antarctic front gained ground through the weekend, bringing much colder weather and some snow, with southerly Island Tasmania getting some of the heaviest. But despite that, most centres announced they’d have to end their seasons early, and still, open centres saw their base depths and available terrain drop by 30-60% in the last week. Perisher (35/65cm / 14/26”) initially reported 2cm (an inch) of snow at the weekend, but its open terrain has halved down to 25km (16 miles) as its season rapidly winds down. Its Guthega and Smiggin Holes sectors have closed, but larger Mt Perisher and Blue Cow still have terrain open. For Falls Creek (15/30cm / 6/12”) and Thredbo (165/60cm / 6/24”), the drop is even more dramatic to 25% and 12 km/7.5 miles and 13% and 7km/4 miles of terrain left open, respectively. That’s still the most common in the country as things are only really moving in one direction, with Mt Baw Baw and Mt Buller announcing on Thursday that its season was ending on Sunday, September 1^st, due to the weather conditions. They joined Selwyn Resort, which initially only temporarily closed, officially, with the hope it could reopen if conditions improve over the next few weeks, but then announced at the weekend that was unlikely to happen and that its 2024 season was over. A fourth resort, Hotham, then announced Tuesday 4^th was their last day of 2024 winter operations.

AUSTRALIA FORECAST

After the temperature drop and snowfall to start the week, things are warming up again and the sunshine is back.  It’s looking like we’ll be back to around-the-clock plus temperatures with afternoon highs of up to +15C by the end of the week.

NEW ZEALAND REPORT

It’s been yet another weather roller coaster week in New Zealand, with gale-force winds a significant factor at times in closing ski areas, but heavy rain has been an ongoing issue for some, too, along with mild temperatures., But there has been some good news with rain sometimes turning to snow. Mt Hutt (105/205cm / 42/82”), which has been posting the country’s deepest snow for the past month or so, was one of those closed at the weekend. “As we are all aware NZ is experiencing some crazy strong winds this week and into early next week,” the resort posted on Friday. Broken River Ski Area was among those closed on Friday whilst it assessed conditions with a saturated snowpack and heavy rain, but things turned out well as the latter half of the storm saw rain turn to snowfall. On Friday, it announced, "Come get some powder turns! We are so excited to be open with 10+ cm of fresh snow. The sun is shining. The field is blanketed in white again. The skiing is great. Come and make some ribbons before more weather moves in this evening."  Storm closures continued into Saturday for some; others blamed rain damage on a diminishing snowpack. But against these issues, some centres still report decent base depths, and everything is open when the weather allows. Besides Mt Hutt, they include The Remarkables (15/75cm / 6/30”) and Cardrona (60/84cm / 24/34”), which has been battling to host the opening events of the 24/25 FIS World Cup Park & Pipe tour, eventually giving up after delaying the finals three times and awarding results based on qualifiers. But after all the weather drama, it was a beautiful, blue sky, powder day across the country on Wednesday, with centres posting 10-20cm of fresh powder.

NEW ZEALAND FORECAST

It's hard to believe, but it does look a little drier and more settled over the next few days in most areas. With temperatures in the -8C to +5C range, more snowfall is forecast by the weekend.

ARGENTINA REPORT

It's been a good start to spring in Argentina, with ski areas posting up to 50cm (20") of snowfall in the final few days of August. Most of the country's centres continue to report that their slopes are 70-100% open, and snow depths remain the world's best. The Catedral (40/160cm / 16/64”) ski centre near Bariloche continues to post the most terrain open anywhere in the world at present, with around 100km (64 miles) of slopes. Chapelco (55/330cm / 22/132”) continues to report the deepest snowpack in the world on its upper slopes.  It has 95% of its slopes open.  Temperatures have remained low in most ski regions, in the -5 to +5C range, although the weekend did see afternoon highs climb to double figures at some centres. We’re now in the final month of the season for most Argentinian ski centres, although a few larger resorts like Catedral are expected to stay open into October.

ARGENTINA FORECAST

It’s looking sunny in the south, but snowfall continues in the latter half of this week further south. So, for Las Leñas (120/280cm / 48/112"), plenty of sunshine and temperatures are in the -10 to +12C range. For Catedral, snow showers could add another 20cm (8") of snowfall by the weekend, when it's also expected to be sunny here.

CHILE REPORT

Chile has had a largely sunny week, with some snow showers thrown in for good measure. It's been drier in the north overall, though, with what snowfall there has been heaviest in the south. Most of the country's centres continue to post 80-100% of their terrain open as we enter what is, for most, the final 2-3 weeks of the 2024 season. Temperatures have varied significantly between -10 (overnight, up high) and +10C (in resort in the afternoons) throughout the week. Base depths continue to hold up, with Nevados de Chillán (210/290cm / 84/116”) the only centre in the world posting a 2m+ (80”+) base depth at all levels.  Meanwhile the Tre Valles area (also known as “The 3 Valleys of the Andes) connecting La Parva (180/290cm / 72/116”), Valle Nevado (165/290cm / 66/116”) and El Colorado (60/135cm / 24/56”) east of capital Santiago continues to offer one of the largest areas currently open anywhere about 100km (63 miles) of runs shared between the three centres.

CHILE FORECAST

It's continuing to be dry and mostly sunny in the north, with temperatures rising but dropping two or three degrees below freezing overnight. However, afternoon highs at resort levels as high as +13C are expected. Further south, more light to moderate snowfalls are expected through the latter half of the week, but it will get drier here by the weekend.