It’s been a mixed week in the ski resorts of New Zealand, with the odd dump of snow, plenty of sunshine and some lift-closing high winds as well. Generally, though, the weather’s been cold, and the snow cannons have been running whenever possible to supplement Mother Nature’s efforts.

Top marks go The Remarkables for its June 27 powder day, when there was 44cm of fresh snow on some of its sheltered slopes.

Meanwhile, Saturday was looking good almost everywhere on the South Island – including Mount Hutt near Christchurch (pictured below). Everyone’s been loving the sunshine here lately – because according to MetService Christchurch has just had its second-cloudiest month on record.

There’s been a little more snow today on Mount Hutt, but the the outlook for Tuesday and Wednesday is for short, settled sunny spell in the Southern Alps.
 

 
Skiers should make the most of it, because the NZ weather will be getting weird and wild as the weekend approaches. Strong north-westerlies are expected, which will raise temperatures significantly, and aim a long, narrow jet of moisture-laden air at the mountains. Friday could see heavy rain before the weather cools down again, and the precipitation turns to snow. It’ll be day to wax your skis and catch up on emails…

Meanwhile, in the Snowy Mountains of Australia there was about 10cm of snow at the weekend, which meant some of this, earlier today in Thredbo…

https://www.facebook.com/Thredbo.Resort/videos/10155282932296582/
 
But it’s the central Andes which gets my vote as the place to be next weekend, thanks to heavy snow forecast for the next few days. Valle Nevado, near Santiago in Chile, already had a little taste of fresh snow on Sunday, but it’s Wednesday, Thursday and Friday which look most promising.

Here’s how the resort was this morning.

A stormy interlude in the Alps

In Europe the Alps have just had a scorching weekend – but the weather is about to take a muggy and occasionally stormy turn, marked by scattered afternoon downpours and slightly cooler temperatures.

The hope is for more settled weather at the weekend as an area of high pressure stretches extends from the Azores.

Up on the glaciers, the summer ski season is now in full swing. Here’s how it looked above Val d’Isere today.

And this was the glacier above Les Deux Alpes yesterday – turned over to the MTBers for the annual Mountain of Hell race.

For more on mountain-biking, hiking, trail-running and other “off-season” sports in the Alps, check out our guide to summer in the Alps.