Latest snow report
Updated: 3pm Monday 11 November 2019
Welcome to our first detailed snow report of the 2019-20 ski season!
It probably hasn’t escaped your notice that there is already quite a bit of snow in the Alps. For the moment most of the skiing is still confined to the glaciers, even though it would actually be possible to open much more non-glacial terrain than is currently on offer. More non-glacial resorts are likely to consider capitalising on the early snow soon, especially at weekends, but many are likely to stick to their fixed opening dates for logistical reasons.
So how much snow is there in the Alps already?
The answer is quite a bit at altitude, but not an exceptional amount in the greater scheme of things - the snowline roughly starts at around 1200-1700m, with depths of around 30-70cm at 2500m and 60-120cm above 3000m. There are no stand-out regions yet, and the snowiest resorts are quite geographically diverse. Take France’s Serre Chevalier and Italy’s Arabba, for example, which both have lots of snow but are at opposite ends of the southern Alps.
As to the next few days, the weather in the Alps is set to stay cold with significant snow likely across the southern Alps, especially in Italy, but also spilling a bit further north at times into southern Switzerland, southern Austrian and parts of France closest to the Italian border.
Great snow conditions on the Stubai glacier – 11 November 2019 – Photo: stubaigletscher.com
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