Snow reports are what everyone is talking about. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow is what we say! Now that we are well into the winter season, let’s hope that at last the heavy snowfalls have come and that the snow is here to stay! As this year, Mother Nature has been a little capricious with very light snowfalls at the beginning of the season, some high temperatures causing a lot of rain and existing snow to melt, we decided to make a mid-season snow report taking a closer look at the overall snow conditions in the European Alps to help you find the best snow for your ski holidays in France, Austria, Italy and Switzerland.
France: snow forecast for February
The snow report for French ski resorts is, at last, looking better. Most French ski resorts can now claim to have generally good snow conditions on most slopes. Ski resorts such as Alpe d'Huez have a base of around 100cm of snow on lower slopes and around 200cm of snow on upper slopes andCourchevel in the Three Valleys has 110cm on its lower slopes and 190cm on its higher slopes. France has not had the best snow report in the Alps because there have been some surprising figures such as resorts in the Southern Alps having more snow than some of the highest ski resorts in the Northern Alps! See data below. However, thankfully heavy snow is forecast over the next week in the French Alps and temperatures are low enough to keep the snow in excellent condition – just in time for the half term holidays and maybe your family ski holidays.
Austria: near perfect snow conditions
As far as the snow report for Austrian ski resorts is concerned, this winter there seems to be a north/south divide with ski resorts in the south of Austria receiving much more snow than resorts in the north of Austria. In the low-lying ski resort of Mayrhofen, there may only be a small amount of snow in the resort and around 80cm of snow on the higher slopes, but the snow is apparently of excellent condition. And the great news is that around 30cm of fresh snow is expected in the next few days as well as a good layer of fresh snow across most of the Austrian Alps.
Zillertal ski area
Snow report for Swiss ski resorts
The snow report for Swiss ski resorts is generally pretty good with packed powder conditions in most resorts. In St. Moritz, there is around 110cm of snow on the lower slopes and around 150cm of decent powdery snow on the resort’s higher slopes. Zermatt is having a particularly good season with a good base of 260cm of snow on its highest slopes. A decent dump of fresh snow is expected across most of the Swiss Alps over the next few days with low temperatures keeping the snow dry and powdery.
The best snow is in Italian ski resorts
The best snow report so far this winter is for the Italian ski resorts. Right across the Italian Alps, resorts can claim to have the best snow conditions in the Alps. Courmayeur has 55cm on its lower slopes and 210cm on higher slopes. Cervinia has 95cm on its lower slopes and a generous 310cm on higher slopes. The popular ski resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Dolomites has been blessed with 120cm of snow its lower slopes and 240cm of snow on the upper slopes in its ski area. Off-piste conditions are relatively good in Italy and these will be boosted by heavy snowfalls over the next few days.
Dolomites 31 January 2014
Your own personalised snow report
Don’t forget that you can sign up for your own personalised snow report to stay up-to-date with the snow conditions in your favourite resort(s). It takes a matter of seconds to set up a SnowAlert on our website and you will then receive regular emails keeping you informed of weather and snow conditions.