Alps | Back from winter and finally another snow dump!

Spring break in the central and northern regions is currently in full swing. Yesterday, winter sports enthusiasts enjoyed beautiful sunny weather in the Alps, but today the rainfall zone creates less favorable weather conditions. Unfortunately, the rest of the week will also remain subject to change, but the week may end with heavy snowfall.

Today an area of ​​rain will move over parts of Switzerland and Austria. Rain falls again in most valleys, but the air supplied is less warm. This causes precipitation to change to snow from 1,500 meters in Switzerland and 1,300 meters in Austria. However, the amounts of fresh snow will not be huge. It remains largely dry in the French and Italian Alps today, especially in the Dolomites where the sun shines brightly.

Also on Tuesday, shower areas will move mainly over Austria and eastern Switzerland. Snowfall levels range between 1,300 and 1,500 metres, which means that rain will return again in the valleys. It gets drier during the day and, as in the Italian and French Alps, the sun occasionally shines. The temperature in the afternoon reaches nearly freezing at 1,500 metres, while it freezes a few degrees at 2,000 metres. At an altitude of less than 1,500 metres, the ski slopes often remain smooth and soft.

Beautiful ski weather on Wednesday

Wednesday promises to be the best ski day of the week. The weather remains dry everywhere in the Alps, and the sun shines in many places, especially in the morning. Due to the relatively cold weather on Wednesday night, the slopes will be gentle and the valleys will be challenging as well. Clouds will increase in the French and Swiss Alps during Wednesday afternoon, but will remain dry until the evening. At an altitude of 1,500 metres, daytime temperatures are a few degrees above freezing.

Stormy Thursday

Unfortunately, the good, calm ski weather came to an end on Thursday. New areas of rain arrive in the Alps, this time heavy rain falling mainly in the French and later the Italian Alps. Heavy rain is possible, especially in France, with the snowfall limit rising significantly on Thursday to 2,200 metres. There are also strong winds, which can become stormy in the mountains with gusts of up to 120 kilometers per hour. Fortunately, Austria will benefit from dry weather on Thursday, with so-called warm drying winds. As a result, the temperature in the valleys rises quickly to 15 degrees or more.

There will be rain and snow everywhere in the Alps on Thursday evening. The supplied air becomes colder and the snowfall limit starts to decrease to 1500m and later up to 1000m.

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Snow falling on Friday?

Overnight through Friday, an area of ​​heavy rain and snow will move from the French Alps to the Austrian Alps. In this region, the snowfall limit drops to 1000 metres, and locally up to 600 metres. On Friday morning, large parts of the Alps may wake up under a thick layer of snow. Heavy snowfall is expected around Austria's border with Italy, with some weather models predicting up to 30 or 40 cm of snow.

This snow dump also heralds a period of cold winter weather in winter sports areas. Over the weekend, regular snow showers will sweep across the Alps, and the snowfall line will often reach all the valleys again. In short, from Friday, winter will return to the Alps. Unfortunately, this comes too late for most winter sports enthusiasts.

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