Another Dose of Heavy Spring Snow | Welove2ski
Snow Report

Another Dose of Heavy Spring Snow

It's been bucketing down in parts of the Alps - but a sharp thaw is on the way.

Winter’s made another brief comeback in the Alps. It was bucketing down with snow in the northern half of the region this morning; and for a time it was settling on slopes as low as 1200m.

Here’s a brief sample of the morning webcams and Facebook photos, starting with John Yates-Smith’s shot from Val d’Isere this morning. “Let’s not forget, we’re only four weeks from Midsummer’s Day,” he said.

Another Dose of Heavy Spring Snow | Welove2ski
Photo: yseski.co.uk

Meanwhile, this was La Croisette at Courchevel at 1850m.

Another Dose of Heavy Spring Snow | Welove2ski
Photo: courchevel.com

This was Les Gets at just 1200m.

Another Dose of Heavy Spring Snow | Welove2ski
Photo: lesgets.com

And this was the hamlet of Findeln, above Zermatt, at about 2100m…

Another Dose of Heavy Spring Snow | Welove2ski
Photo: wnd.ch/apartment-zermatt.ch

Here’s the latest snow forecast map for today, which gives you an idea of just how heavy the white stuff will be – and how widespread.

Another Dose of Heavy Spring Snow | Welove2ski
Welove2ski’s snow forecast for May 23.

But it won’t last long. The snow will ease off tonight, with the last flakes falling in western Austria tomorrow morning. Then temperatures are due to jump. The daytime freezing point will rise from 1700m today to 3300m by Wednesday in the western Alps, and 3000m in Austria.

Nevertheless, there are still a handful of glaciers open for skiing in the Alps – including the Hintertux and Kitzsteinhorn in Austria, and Zermatt in Switzerland. You can also ski on the Kaunertal and Stubai glaciers in the Tirol until Sunday. And with the with summer-skiing season fast approaching, the new snow at altitude is very welcome – even if the mountain bikers, trail runners, climbers and hikers all wish it would leave them in peace, and let summer have its turn.

I’ll be back with a full Snow Report on Wednesday.

About the author

Sean Newsom

As well as founding Welove2ski in June 2007, Sean has written about skiing and snowboarding in the British press for 28 years. For the last 20 of them, he’s also been the ski travel editor at The Sunday Times.

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