Heavy Snow Hits the Andes

Now it’s the turn of the Andes to be walloped by the white stuff. Two big storms have just dumped significant amounts of snow in the resorts of the central Andes, near Santiago.

This is how it looked at Valle Nevado yesterday, after the first storm, which dropped 60cm on the resort.

It’s been snowing again since then. Here’s how Valle Nevado’s neighbour, La Parva, looked this morning.

Valle Nevado’s opening date is officially June 22, but you can’t help feeling it’s going to announce an earlier start, or at least a sneak preview, this weekend. Las Lenas in Argentina has already done that – and will open on June 16.
 

 

More resorts open in New Zealand

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, both Mount Hutt and The Remarkables on the South Island opened for the season at the weekend. Here’s Mount Hutt looked on Sunday.

Currently there’s 35-75cm of cover packed down on its pistes.

Meanwhile The Remarkables reports up to 95cm of snow on its waymarked trails. This was the scene on Saturday.

Thanks to heavy snow in May, the South Island resorts have got off to a good start to the season. But we do have to remember that the local climate can be fluky: and the weather’s milder than it was at the end of last month. Off-pisters are hoping Mother Nature can send another big storm from the south soon.
 

 

In Australia, the end of the snow drought is in sight

The start of the ski season in Australia’s Snowy Mountains is always a bit touch-and-go – and this year is no exception. Last weekend saw opening parties in both Thredbo and Perisher with little actual snow to ski on: currently, Perisher has only one piste open. However, relief is in sight, with snow forecast on several days this week, especially Wednesday to Friday.

Meanwhile, in the Alps…

The late spring/start of the summer has been warm, weird and stormy in the Alps: but it looks as though the pattern will change over the next ten days. First it will turn cooler midweek, followed by (hopefully) a more settled and sunnier spell next week. Here’s how it looked in Tignes this afternoon. Here, the summer ski season is due to start on the Grande Motte glacier on June 23.

Check out guide for more on summer in the Alps.