What a sunny, mild and warm week we’ve had here this last week. Great skiing and long lazy sunny terrace lunches, but this warmth has taken its toll on the lower slopes. These current temperatures are around 5° warmer than average for this time of year, it seems quite spring-like!
Thursday is the only cloudy and cooler day this week, with light precipitation. We have a high pressure weather system in place for the next few days and there is no snow forecast. There are sunny, calm and mild days with blue skies in the forecast and from Friday this week for the following few days it will rarely dip below freezing in Chamonix. The freezing level is hovering around 3000 metres and winds will remain generally light.
Snow depths over 2000 metres are good and above average for this time of the season. However once you get down to 1500 metres and below, the snow cover is becoming much thinner as the mild weather takes it’s toll on the slopes. Having said that, the snow is being kept in good condition by the amazing pisteurs out every night busy keeping the slopes all well groomed.
The risk of avalanches is slowly reducing due to the combination of sunshine and high-pressure weather. Over 2000 metres the avalanche risk is currently 2 out of 5 and below that it is down to 1 out of 5 as the lower slopes become more stable as they melt and refreeze. With the mild weather this week it is likely that the avalanche risk at high altitude will also decrease to 1 out of 5.
The earliest sign of any precipitation is at least 8 days away, but there is a jet stream increasing in strength early next week across Europe which makes everything rather unpredictable.
