I’m no expert but it’s typically a rain shadow thing caused by the mountains. North side does better when weather comes in from the north and south side of the alps does better when moisture is whipped up from the Mediterranean. That’s a very basic generalisation though.
Nice program on Austrian TV last night. Winter in Austria featuring Hans Knauss & Anna Veith, covering winter activities in all 9 Austrian provinces. Winter in Österreich vom 05.12.2020 um 20:15 Uhr – ORF-TVthek
Exactly. The best snow in Norther Italy happens when a low form on the gulf of Genoa , huge amount of moisture turn into huge amount of snow https://video.corriere.it/alto-adig...tri-neve/05352106-37c5-11eb-8ee8-3626ca43a0a8
This is not so unusual - happens once and awhile with huge amount of snow. Have not watched this time but meditation low going north and cold air from east.
Some pretty good videos from a Mädl named Marlene as well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcR7f5_MA_zvDdVrFwf6Lpg
What next? The heavy snowfalls in Osttirol (over 3m in 3 days) has resulted in high avalanche hazards, road closures, trees collapsing onto power lines which has cut power to thousands of households. Also this just when Austria were doing mass Covid testing through Tirol, so they have delayed this a couple of days. 4.000 Haushalte in Osttirol ohne Strom - tirol.ORF.at
Skiwelt AT looking good, coldish this morning, -6 deg C at 9 am. Watching the season evolve with interest. They have pushed back their opening until 25/12. I think the 10th was going to be the "normal" opening date. Covid numbers and fatalities in AT have clearly peaked for now but I think this reflects a quite strict lockdown. I guess it is the fact that they are keeping worldwide travellers like myself out means that that this can be the case.
Those dates have been set nationally by the Austrian government. Initially open at Christmas for locals able to day trip to ski areas with the later date being when hotels and restaurants can open allowing visitors from further afield, particularly Germans.
Austria just emerged from the second Covid Shut Down today. Infection rates are dropping, so some positive signs for them. They're all very nervous over there.
Covid has actually provided a benefit to us, we made a low offer on an already reduced asking price for a 2 bed 2 bath apartment in Courchevel Le Praz, no physical visit, just facetime while the agent walked around and showed us what we asked. The vendors have accepted, as with resorts shut and France on lockdown few are shopping. Big saving worth the risk for us, pretty sure price would have been at least 10% higher if no rona. Hopefully lifts will open by Feb but regardless we will head over and if needs be just cross country .
7th Jan opening for the Italian Dolomites. Plenty of snow, looks awesome, but some guns are still running anyway.
World cup races did run today though in Val d'Isere and Courchevel while snowing solidly, without spectators of course.
All Austrian resorts are slated to open on the 24th Dec. They're in lock down now and their Covid numbers have reduced, so they're expecting to hit the 24th Dec proposed opening date. What happens after that is anyones guess. I think last seasons Covid break out sent a strong enough warning to all resorts.
Yes. Have you skied much in Austria @Hyst . The two go hand in hand. The Austrians know how to do apre. Hopefully, they'll keep the party-party on the low down, so everyone can go skiing.
Ischgl is party central for sure and no doubt the apres ski bars were the main part of the spread last season. Ischgl though is a big resort and once you get past the crowd lining up at the Silvrettabahn in the morning and you get away from Idalp it is very easy to stay free of crowds, so the skiing itself will be pretty safe. There certainly won't be an Apres activity this season.
I really enjoyed skiing in Ischgl. Lots of great terrain and you can slide over to Samnaun for some Swiss goodness in normal times BTW, I still want to do your ski tour Heinz
Yes -just for the skiing! https://uk.reuters.com/article/heal...dancing-on-bars-is-off-the-menu-idUSL5N2GL27J
Chamonix has been absolutely puked on lately, very jealous seeing picks of mates touring. Looks like lifts will open 7th Jan unless things get worse.
Glad he’s ok mate. Yeah I think most people I know has had it at some stage, hard not to in a place like that.
A bit of Christmas cheer forecast for Tyrol, 10-20 cm of snow followed by very cold overnight temps, according to ECMWF. Ellmau, Tyrol, AT:
Bit difficult for a day trip. Wife has a work colleague from Switzerland who just went home for the holidays. First thing to send her was pictue of empty pists from his families house at the pist. Only comment "Putting ski on now - piste nice empty". Yes, there are lots of evil persons out there.
Bit of moist pre-frontal in northern AT (Skiwelt) before the Xmas chill arrives. Shouldn't be too long now - flakage occurring up higher. They need a top up by the looks of it. And then a white Christmas for season opening day on the 25th.
Looks like northern AT ended up with about 10-15 cm of snow at 1300m, a little more up higher. Tomorrow is opening day for Skiwelt. Their groomed runs seem to have OK coverage thanks to snow making, but don't venture too far off the trail. A cold week coming up. Some more snow Xmas night - probably another 10-20 cm of precip. But then excellent snow making conditions for the next week I woul have thought. Below is yr.no output for Ellmau, at Skiwelt AT.
The snow has settled convincingly to 800m in northern AT, here is a night pic of the village of Ellmau: Upper slopes of Skiwelt look to have got 20+ cm by the late afternoon. Can make out flakes falling on the Kufstein webcam (about 400 m ASL) but not yet settling.
Would have been in Alpbach skiing with family and celebrating Christmas about now if not for covid. Ah well, first world problems in the big scheme of things! Happy to be safe and well back home, many not so fortunate. Next year!
NYT reports on the touring crowd continuing at Chamonix despite lifts being closed by government decree... https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/25/sports/skiing/chamonix-france.html?referringSource=articleShare
So they've got what looks to be a workable base now in northern Tyrol. Fairly ridgey for the next while however apart from a minor top up on the 28th. Cold temps so minimal melt and good snow making conditions. Yr.no forecast for Ellmau, AT, 791 m ASL:
Not surprisingly with ski lifts now open but hotels still closed in Austria, small resorts in the east near population centers have been very busy while resorts further west have been less so. CoV-Regeln: Skigebiete kämpfen mit Kapazitätsgrenzen - news.ORF.at
Italy delaying opening of ski resorts form Jan 7 to Jan 18. „Letztmöglicher Zeitpunkt“: Italien verschiebt Auftakt von Skisaison - news.ORF.at
So does the southern flank of the Alps routinely get more snow than the northern flank? Moisture off the Mediterranean?
Don't know what side would normally get more. Certainly in Jan/Feb 2017 when I was in Osttirol on the southern side the opposite was the case. There were very cold temps through January but little precip, whereas Salzburg on the north side did get decent snowfalls.
Three years ago we were in Val d'Anniviers (Switz). Ok base, just had 20cm, but 10km away they were on dirt. We were with a couple of IFMGA guides and I asked them about Euro snow forecasts. They launched into a long passionate discussion, most of which I can't remember, on the eleven or so macro European climates, the major local variations, and many, many micro climates. It was an IFMGA subject in Year 1. Also how climate change, and especially warming, was upsetting hundreds of years of data and experience. Summary, it's really complicated and changing dramatically. Long term predictions are speculative at best.
