"Unprecedented" April Snowstorm

ChrisC

Well-known member
The Southern Alps look like they will receive a lot of snow over the next few days. It's too bad these mega-storms are coming so late in the season.





wePowder
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OpenSnow
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Too bad for my Solitude friend who spent 2.5 weeks based at Cervinia with very little new snow and a lot of wind. Now it's getting four feet mid-mountain.

Fraser confirms:

Today in the Alps​

Updated: 10.30am Tuesday 15 April 2025 Biggest storm of the season for some parts of the the Alps?
After a relatively dry and warm first half of April the weather in the Alps is now turning much more unsettled, with some serious precipitation on the cards for some areas over the next few days, with both rain and snow.
Bergfex chart showing expected snowfall totals in the Alps between 15 and 17 April 2025 with the darker pinks and purples suggesting the potential for over 1m of new snow – Weather to ski – Today in the Alps, 15 April 2025


Forecasts show that expected snowfall totals in the Alps between now and Thursday (17 April) could reach over 1m in some areas (shown with the darker pinks and purples)

This storm will be a highly complex amalgam of disturbances of both Atlantic and Mediterranean origin. It will broadly hit the western Italian Alps hardest but with intense precipitation spilling over certain border areas, especially into the Zermatt/Saas-Fee regions in Switzerland but also affecting French ski resorts near the border, from Isola 2000 all the way up to Val Cenis and Val d’Isère/Tignes.

Indeed, a few areas in the firing line could see well over 1m of new snow at altitude (with 1.5m+ in places), including resorts that are still open like Val d’Isere, the Monte Rosa region, Cervinia, Zermatt and Saas-Fee.

The rain/snow limit will be highly variable, generally starting above 2000m but falling to 1500m or lower under the more intense precipitation, especially on Wednesday. At altitude the risk of avalanche will become critical in some of the areas mentioned above, with the risk of flooding and landslides increasing lower down.

On the whole, over the next few days, the further north and east you are in the Alps, the less precipitation there will be.
 
Too bad for my Solitude friend who spent 2.5 weeks based at Cervinia with very little new snow and a lot of wind. Now it's getting four feet mid-mountain.

It's the same in Lake Tahoe, which is now an average season. Didn't we have the driest January ever?

It's also called Colorado, Sun Valley, Banff....even interior BC was bad for a month

Although commuting to Solitude via SLC is likely something I will never do again, it's a super poor value, over-crowded: small mountain, $ parking



But this year in the Alps was a very bad
 
With more than five feet on the glacier in Tignes and almost seven feet on the Pisaillas glacier above Val d’Isère, Fraser's article is calling it the most significant April snowstorm in living memory.

Arc 1600 in France
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Moving forward, @EMSC should keep in mind that (similar to Colorado) April is the best month for Alps destination visits with big groups! :icon-lol:
 
I feel like Luke Snow got burned by just how massive this Alsp storm was. I think I read that he diverted to Austria.



He avoided the storm center by a lot:






 
Giving away $40+ of Raclette and Water. The Swiss do have a way with marking up the most pedestrian food.

 
Moving forward, @EMSC should keep in mind that (similar to Colorado) April is the best month for Alps destination visits with big groups! :icon-lol:
Recall I never said it didn't snow in the Alps.

I still maintain that a majority of snow in the alps comes in exactly this type of storm: humongous. With only some snowfall outside of the huge dumps. eg more Sierra like than Colo or BC like, making pre-booked skiing very much a crap shoot at best.
 
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