An incredible snowstorm in the Alps is currently dumping huge amounts of the white stuff on ski slopes. Overnight snowfall totals of up to 1.5m (five feet) have been reported with the snowfall expected to continue for much of today. Montgenvre is pictured top this morning, Les Contamines below.
In the short term this is causing big issues for people in ski areas now. Most are closed due to the exceptionally high avalanche danger. Roads are blocked by snow too and in some cases, including Tignes and the Swiss Valais region, there’s currently a mandatory “stay indoors” order in force.
24 hour snowfall totals so far include 1.5m for Tignes and a metre for many other areas including Chamonix, La Plagne, Verbier and Cervinia/Zermatt. Verbier’s snow strake which shows accumulations up to 1 metre at the top is pictured below this morning.
However skiers are already considering the potential for incredible conditions from the Easter weekend, once the snowfall has stopped and resorts have had chance to make safe and re-open runs. It looks like the avalanche danger – currently at a very rare maximum 5 on the danger scale – will stay high for some time though. Saas Fee and Zermatt (pictured below this morning) are currently cut off by road.
The snowstorm is by far the biggest of the 24-25 season and ironically has arrived at the end when about 80% of ski areas are already closed. However dozens of higher, well-known ski areas are open next week and in many cases into May, including Tignes, Val d’Isere and Les 2 Alpes in France, Verbier and Zermatt in Switzerland and Cervinia in Italy.
