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Worst Summer weather for a while in the French Alps ?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
On a more positive note forecast next Tues onwards has not shown that much sunshine for nigh on six weeks, be interesting to see what happens http://www.meteociel.fr/tendances/40008/serre_chevalier.htm
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Weathercam - if you are coming round the M25 west of London you will see a bit of sunshine today Smile Barely a cloud in the sky in Surrey. Even my parents house in Herefordshire was hot last weekend. I spent quite a bit of time outside walking, BBQs etc and have now got prickly heat on my hands..something I usually only succumb to in places like Turkey!

Still have our "summer" Alps trip to go though! Toofy Grin snowHead


Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Wed 30-07-14 15:03; edited 1 time in total
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
When this thread started I was convinced the bad weather was a blip and we'd be back to usual sunshine in a couple of days. I was wrong.

This is miserable - half of Geneva are bitching (the other half are refusing to go outside) and a lot of the usual weekend activities are off. I can well believe that business is down in resorts, as certainly a lot of friends do weekend trips into the mountains in good weather, but a lot of people aren't bothering at the minute.

We've got open air cinema plans as well this weekend and next week - not looking good rolling eyes
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I was too, fixx, just rubbish and not even a verdant lawn is making me any happier. We haven't been let alone needed to go to chill at the municipal pool yet. Being able to sleep more soundly is not the compensation I really wanted.

Talking to a guide chum at the weekend he was saying it was like full winter higher up (and dangerous).

And metblue's 14 days outlook isn't exactly the sultry August weather we love (and find difficult to sleep in) https://www.meteoblue.com/en/switzerland/weather-ch%C3%AAne-bourg/14-days

Ho hum.
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If we can take something positive from all of this, weathercam didn't need to be airlifted off the mountain in his first couple of days holiday and then spend the rest of the break in hospital. I'm sure Briancon mountain rescue and hospital will see that as a result.

The James Blunt concert in Vienne last night (which the missus forced me to) was held in torrential freezing rain. It was worse than Glastonbury!

In the 2nd quarter of 2014 French hotel bookings were down 3% and restaurant turnover down 7%. They were counting on summer to make some cash. I wouldn't be surprised to see the economy back in recession. The 5.4 million registered unemployed will be being joined by bar staff in August.
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Not much positive there then! I can't believe the number of bikes and lift passes on sale here, people who have saved up just to do the summer season giving up already It really is unprecedented and very depressing! Hey ho, here's to a great autumn rolling eyes
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davidof, doing the amount of descents on this past trip I was always conscious of paying Briancon A&E another visit, defo have lost my bottle a bit Crying or Very sad

Restaurants that rely on a lunch time terrace trade have really suffered, where my daughter works they'd expect 90+ covers and then all the follow on ice cream and pero trade lasting through into the early evening.

And ironic or what, just turned of the news to hear the weather, and the opening statement was something along the lines of "well we now entering a spell of more unsettled weather" rolling eyes

Not that I mind as the equates to sea breeze top up to the wind and it's been a while since I've been dangling Cool
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
I don't know if this makes you feel better about leaving but the weather is still sucky here. Not too bad where I am at 300m because we are below the thick billowing humid cloud that claggs the mountains at around 1200m altitude but regular rainstorms, currently freezing gobs of water dropping out of the sky.

They say it will improve from Wednesday, sigh!
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The silver lining to this particular cloud might be that autumn pre-season skiing should be good Happy

Just spent four days at Disneyland Paris where the weather was splendid, so not all of France has been blighted by poor summer weather.
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We're hoping interseason will be good.. Blooming rain, seriously sick of it now rolling eyes
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Just been speaking to my daughter in Tignes, today rain all day and cold, only 30 covers a where on a Sunday in the Summer they would expect to be run off their feet all day!

And here back in Costa Geriatrica it's been great kiting weather Cool

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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
According to locals from Embrun, the summer up until end of july was the worst (weather-wise) in 35 years.

Just back from summer holiday on Lac de Serre Poncon, near Embrun, between Gap and Briancon.
One of the reasons we go there is because this is one of most sun-sure regions of the alps.

Embrun normally has about 600 mm precipitation per year. And about 320 days with sunshine per year. This is all due to the special geographic location - a very wide basin sheltered in the north by the 4000m high Ecrins mountains. On of the best locations in Europe for outdoor sports such as rafting, canyoning, mountain walking and climbing, windsurfing etc etc

Not so this year. According to locals, this summer was the worst in 35 years. Tourism is suffering because people do not come, or go home early. Campings do between -20 and -40% compared to normal.

Our last time there was 2012. In 3 weeks time, about 10-15 minutes of rain. Average daytime temperature 32 degrees C. This year, almost every day there was rain, sometimes torrential. And cold - maximum temperatures only 28 degrees. We even saw fresh snow above Les Orres down till 2300.

On a positive note: there is about twice the normal amount of water in the rivers compared to normal (due to all this rain). And there is LOTS and LOTS of snow still left, much more snow than normal. The snowfield for luging on the upper chairlift at Les Orres, is normally gone at the beginning of july. Now, there is a package of at least 3 meters this at the end of july.

This must be a VERY good year for glaciers.

But a very bad year for summer tourists and tourism infrastructure.
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Mont Chaberton on the 29th July

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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
This coming week looks OK according to Meteo France forecast for the mountains. From next Sat on it looks dismal again but who knows all could change. Yesterday and today were forecast bad and yesterday was a poor day but today turned out fine after a dull morning. Dunno what it would have been like high up as there was cloud cover on and off throughout the day.

Going sport climbing tomorrow morning. Hopefully we'll have a decent day.

The real problem is it's impossible to plan for anything. Just have to take it day by day.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Kevin Byrne, Onnem, marrying your two threads up as it were.........

I really enjoy the area around Savines le Lac for cycling and even kited down on the lake, buy very gusty.

However this summer just could not bring myself to plan to go down there for a long ride as could not trust the weather, once committed to ride round the lake it's a fair ride, but stunning.

Anyway this in from my brother last night after I asked him was it still wet - his boat is on Lac Paladru & he lives in the Chautreuse
"Yes it's still pissing it down, not all day but when the sun does shine the heat + humidity reminds me of Singapore and Reunion Island, the sweat just pours off you at the slightest effort. The lake is so full that the mooring chain is stretched and vertical, any more and the boat will be bow down. You should have stayed in the UK for July, they had a great summer. The thing that really hurts is having paid the sailing club €300 Euros for the season so far works out at €30 for each sail"

Friends out in a couple of weeks for a weeks climbing, plan is to do Pelvoux and Monte Viso.

Another great days kiting here today Cool
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Having spent last week in Tignes, my perspective is that although some of the locals were very apologetic about the weather it didn't seem that bad to us. On the days when there was some rain we never actually got wet as it was fairly light and sporadic. On the days when the sun shone it was glorious. Probably a bit cooler than normal but that didn't bother me, although my wife would have liked it a bit warmer. The few storms there were in the evenings I enjoyed watching from the balcony. Being able to take the kids up to the glacier and be snowed on in July was a novelty, but fun. If anyone is thinking about taking a trip I wouldn't be put off, but pack for changeable weather.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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kieranm, did you ski while you were there? What condition was the glacier in? Hoping this summer's weather means the Grand Motte is in good shape for our trip in November.
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rob@rar, I didn't ski as it would have been costly to hire all the gear for the novelty of it and I was keen to do more summery things with my family in the mountains as I've not had the chance to do those before. But we were able to have a snowball fight with fresh snow outside the Panorama restaurant and the snow under foot seemed pretty good to me. Further up at the top of the cable car was similar. This was on a cold and cloudy day (it was snowing after all) so no idea how that would compare to the conditions on the warmer/sunnier days.
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Worst July in living memory in many areas

http://www.meteofrance.fr/web/comprendre-la-meteo/actualites?articleId=10410000

Its a washout!

People still touring near Alpe d'Huez



August is forecast to be: not much better. Already Meteo Chance is rolling back on the sun for this week.
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davidof, worth putting up the link for all those photos - looked like a cool day out!

http://www.skitour.fr/sorties/pic-de-l-etendard,59652.html#sortie
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Has to be said I'm beginning to feel mildly exonerated (smug) now after some of the comments that were made in my general direction when I first started this thread rolling eyes

And as I kept saying back then, it was not just my perception!

Anyway hope August is better, but by then end of this week, that's only three weeks left.
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It's been confirmed. For example Chambery, most rainy july since 1973.

Original article http://www.meteofrance.fr/web/comprendre-la-meteo/actualites?articleId=10410000
Google translated https://translate.google.nl/translate?sl=fr&tl=nl&js=y&prev=_t&hl=nl&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.meteofrance.fr%2Fweb%2Fcomprendre-la-meteo%2Factualites%3FarticleId%3D10410000&edit-text=

Pictures tell a 1000 words - rainfall about double the longterm average


Sunshine, 30% below average
http://www.meteofrance.fr/documents/10192/10406759/CAR_OBS_M_FRANCE_AINST_20140730.png

Temperature, 3 degrees below average
http://www.meteofrance.fr/documents/10192/10406759/CAR_OBS_M_FRANCE_ATM_201407.png


Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Tue 5-08-14 12:08; edited 1 time in total
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
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Weathercam, you started the thread mid-July, at which point observations weren't that it had been all that bad.

I think it's all your fault.
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feel smug if you like

i'll be smug at the (inverse) watch strap tan that I've still got from my alpine trip to Austria/Switzerland/Liechtenstein in June.

It's summer. Some days it rains, other days it's sunny. Some times it rains a bit more, others a bit less.
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under a new name, again please read what I've always said "And as I kept saying back then, it was not just my perception"

and

andy, the title of the thread was The French Alps not Austria/Switzerland/Liechtenstein rolling eyes
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Weathercam wrote:
Has to be said I'm beginning to feel mildly exonerated (smug)



You are entitled to feel smug but don't let it go to your head Happy.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
davidof, maybe I shouldn't have used the word "smug" - but that's sort of why I put it in brackets.

As you know on the first couple of pages of this thread there were more than a few belittling "this is what happens in the summer in the mountains" type of responses.

But that is to be expected rolling eyes
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People find it easier to remember bad, cold, wet, windy much easier than a 3 week heatwave that was only 2 weeks ago.

Plots to me say it was a bit damper, 1 degree cooler than average.

Same here - people probably saying it's not a very warm summer just because there was a thunderstorm 2 days in a row and the rain makes the temperature drop to 24C, but they completely forget the 34C the other day and the 37C in April!
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Weathercam wrote:
davidof, maybe I shouldn't have used the word "smug" - but that's sort of why I put it in brackets.

As you know on the first couple of pages of this thread there were more than a few belittling "this is what happens in the summer in the mountains" type of responses.

But that is to be expected rolling eyes


No no feel a bit smug, you called it right. Fair play, credit where it is due.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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It was pretty grim in Switzerland last week, but these couple of photos show it has been worse.

This is the plaque put up after the August 2005 floods destroyed the original flood defenses.



Up the Reichenbach Falls there is another plaque showing the 2004 high water level (not sure which month). It was quite impressive this year so can only imagine what it was like then. It's the blue one under the yellow warning triangle:

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 Poster: A snowHead
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Hopefully I'm not tempting fate but the last 2 days in Venosc (Ecrins national park) have been stunning with it forecast to be even hotter tomorrow, some thunderstorms on Tuesday pm then back to sunshine from Wed.
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Just back from Morzine after two weeks there - we had very mixed weather with some very nice, warm days, some thundery overcast days and some with torrential monsoon-like rain and hot sunshine within the same HALF day. It did stop us doing some things we'd planned but - instead - we did things we rarely have time for such as reading, talking to each other, catching up on films or box sets we'd been meaning to get round to, the kids each created a quiz on the laptop and we did that after dinner (sounds dull but was hysterical Laughing ), and we still walked even if it was raining, on the basis that none of us are made of sugar. It would have been nice to have constant lovely sunny weather, but it so good to be all together in such a gorgeous place, that it really didn't matter Very Happy
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
If it's any consolation, I work on the Cote d'Azur in the summer and July was dreadful here, alternating between gale force winds or downpours once or twice a week. The first half of August was scorchio but then a few days ago so much rain fell in half an hour that two of our garages were flooded, and since then we've been enjoying gusts up to 120km/h and a drop in temperatures of around 10C.
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Setting off on Wednesday evening for our own trip. As it is still peak season, we're skipping the Cote d'Azur this year for our mid-holiday short break and heading into the Piemonte region and Barolo.
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miranda wrote:

Gaza I hate to say it, but, from experience, I can say that gorgeous summer weather in Tuscany is NOT guaranteed either!


After more indifferent weather Mrs Gaza put her foot down and said we were definitely going somewhere in 2015 with guaranteed sunshine. Mrs Gaza finally got her way and insisted that (a) we got on a plane and (2) our accommodation was in a building with solid construction. Tuscany and the south of France were discounted as still being too much at risk of poor weather. Greece and Cyprus were discounted as I would fry. So we’ve opted for a very different holiday in a 5* hotel in the Algarve.
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Here in the Vosges it is autumn! The campsite owners have said it has been one of the wettest summers in memory
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Summer is back in the alps. Last couple of days been 30 degrees in moutiers and holding up mid teens/low 20s at the top of the various cols. 4 Days ago it was 3 degrees when we got to the top of the col de la madelaine and scraping snow off the car at Val Thorens in the morning.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
My daughters been working in Zermatt this summer, her 4th now and says it's been appalling.............
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Can't blame Weathercam for that I guess!!!
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> Last couple of days been 30 degrees in moutiers and holding up mid teens/low 20s at the top of the various cols.

You must have a microclimate, it is chilly in the mornings, about 11C just 50km south and not that warm on the cols. Too cold to sit outside in the evening without a fleece, I've just come in coz even with a fleece it is too cold and that's at 260m altitude.
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