Well what a difference a week makes! Conditions are improving considerably with this latest huge band of snow and a large cold front right across The Alps. The cold front brought plummeting temperatures down overnight from freezing limits of around 1600m to 500m and we have had several heavy snowfalls. Snowfall is continuing through Wednesday night with incredibly low temperatures down in the early -20s°C by the end of the week and the freezing level remaining very low. Winds were forecast to be quite strong at high altitude but the low pressure that is sitting over the Alps has weakened, showing that we will still experience some wind, however it will not be as strong as anticipated.
It also looks like we will be rewarded with some sunshine at the end of the week and into the weekend, to go with what will be brilliant conditions after all the fresh snow.
So Chamonix has had another great dump of snow in the last few days, around 43cm. Temperatures have really dropped and will reach -18°C by Friday evening. The winds look to be staying light now and the freezing level is really low around 250m.
The Snow conditions look good and the whole area has fresh new snow, groomed slopes and powder. Upper snow depth at Grand Montets is around 220cm of snow at 2765m with 30cm at Chamonix town level.
With all the new snow that has fallen this week, the avalanche risks in Chamonix are currently high ⅘ above 1800m and considerable ⅗ below, so please stick to the marked pistes and check all guidance in resort.
Check below and before you go out for the current lift status and runs open in each area, as of today it looks like 83 of the 124 pistes and 49 of the 68 lifts are open in the Chamonix area.
Photo above taken this week in Brevent
