 Poster: A snowHead
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any thoughts?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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frostie1861, my own thoughts are the Tarentaise resorts will all have masses of fresh snow. In La Rosiere there's 215cms at altitude and 125cms in the village with more expected, best conditions of the season. If you're thinking about skiing in the next week or so we've a special offer for march, a free 6 day Espace San Bernardo (France & Italy) lift pass with every adult booking fro a week. See our ad in snowShops or go to www.tracksvacations.com for details.
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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?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Serre Chevalier has 145cm at the bottom and 260cm at the top.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Looking at it the other way round, which areas DIDN'T get dumped on over the last week?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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frostie1861, what do you mean by best snow????
as far as i'm aware there is no where in Europe struggling for snow at the moment...............is that correct? Off to Films/Laxx tomorrow so i can tell you next week what that's like but everywhere seems to have plenty of snow to slide on at the moment 
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Milton Keynes not looking too clever (as usual) (pure supposition of course they may have installed a "major dump" machine " since my last visit)
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290 cms in Flaine and Samoens at the moment.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Helen You said Serre Chev had 145cm at the bottom. 1ski said 90cm.- Hope you are right as we go over on the 4th march.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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In that picture of yours would you say that snow chains would be required for those conditions is the car did not have winter tyres?
Cheers,
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Nope not in that - but in the morning on the way there - there was about 2 inches of ice - fine if you have winter tyres on - we saw some Frenchies putting their chains on that afternoon - but the road was clear from Saanermoser to Aigle.
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Cool - is it tricky driving in that slush? I am driving to Alps on 3rd March and this recent snowfall and all the reports of cars being trapped has worried me slightly.
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You know it makes sense.
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Driving on ice etc takes practice - take it easy. I have been driving in that stuff regulary for 23 years now.
I would suggest that you get chains in case you need them and buy winter tyres before you leave - my preference is for Blizzacks.
Some of the English people in the same B&B as us at New Year at Verbier had more bother than they needed to due to not fitting winter tyres - it then cost them 500 chf for a garage to come out and fit 60 chf snowchains... 
It is recommended round here when you park your car if the air temp is going to get really cold dont put your handbrake on just leave the car in gear.
If you have room also have 1 or 2 blankets in the car - take one or two thermos with you and T bags / cup o soup - just in case.
If you get stuck and the snow is piling up switch the engine off - carbon monoxide poisoning makes you feel happy, then dead.
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Mon 20-02-06 19:53; edited 1 time in total
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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kevducky, just checked this out on the serre che website this afternoon.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
| It is recommended round here when you park your car if the air temp is going to get really cold dont put your handbrake on just leave the car in gear. |
I must second this - I inadvertently left my handbrake on while we were on holiday our second winter here. When we returned, the brakes had frozen solid and eventually all four discs had to be ground down to remedy the situation.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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LINK to the Serre Che website snow report . All th other sites seem to be a day or two out of date.
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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?
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Helen Beaumont,
That suggests a 'station' temp of -7 (reaonable) but an 'altitude' temp of +7 ...distinctly odd. Perhaps their thermometer was upside down 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Red Leon wrote: |
Helen Beaumont,
That suggests a 'station' temp of -7 (reaonable) but an 'altitude' temp of +7 ...distinctly odd. Perhaps their thermometer was upside down |
It's called a temperature inversion.
When the air doesn't get moved around much (so if you've got a high pressure setup) the cold air sinks into the valley and the warmer air rises.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Lager wrote: |
| Red Leon wrote: |
Helen Beaumont,
That suggests a 'station' temp of -7 (reaonable) but an 'altitude' temp of +7 ...distinctly odd. Perhaps their thermometer was upside down |
It's called a temperature inversion.
When the air doesn't get moved around much (so if you've got a high pressure setup) the cold air sinks into the valley and the warmer air rises. |
Yep, fairly common mountain phenomenon
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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eng_ch, that looked from the webcams what had happened. Poor visibility, and foggy at the bottom, and sunshine at the top.
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Can you not Easyjet Ryanair or Aer Aran ?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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eng_ch,
I'll get me coat... 
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| Quote: |
| It's called a temperature inversion. |
I didn't know about this phenomenon either, even after many years of skiing, until a few weeks ago in Engelberg. It was bitterly cold in the village in the morning but once up the mountain it was fine. Sunny, still cold but not unbearable and we skiied in sunshine all day, even sitting outside for a drink.
When we skiied back down to the village in the afternoon the temperature change was unbelievable, like frostbite freezing, when the hairs in your nostrils freeze  It was really weird, upside down weather. What causes them then?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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obelix67,
Only choice is with Easy from Belfast to Glasgow. About £100 going out tomorrow coming back friday. Plus car hire. Just too expensive
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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RachelQ, the laws of thermodynamics with a bit of gravity thrown in can be used to show that temperature drops linearly with height by 1 deg.C/km. This continues all the way up through the troposphere where it's constant at -50 deg.C (outside temp. at Sleazy Jet cruising height). However, close to the ground weird things can happen. Air trapped in a valley will cool at night but won't necessarily see enough sun to be warmed again. In settled weather, this denser air will sit at the valley floor. Warmer air higher up will sit on top of this layer and create an inversion. Where the cool and warm air meet, water vapour condenses and forms the fog. Any chimney smoke, exhaust fumes or other gases will rise through the cold bit but will get "stuck" at the warm bit (as they rise, they cool by 1 deg.C/km but then meet warmer air and start to sink again). Once the wind starts blowing, the airstreams will mix and the temp gradient will be restored. Also linked to the cause of the Foehn. That's about all I can remember without delving into my notes...
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Sharkymark, 1 deg C / km ?????? I thought it was nearer 1 C / 100m (all other things being equal - which they never are) if I remember my school geography lesson correctly.
Otherwise, your explanation of temperature inversion is good.
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You know it makes sense.
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My memory wasn't playing tricks. 'Stolen' from a BBC web site with an interesting aside about arachnid anti-freeze !!!!!!!
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Temperature and humidity
As a result of the reduced air pressure, rising air expands and cools. Dry air cools at a fixed rate of approximately 2-3°C per 300m. Moist air behaves differently as once it starts rising, the water vapour starts to condense. This change of water state releases some heat and reduces the rate of cooling.
...spiders have been discovered living high in the Himalayas that rely on a natural anti-freeze for survival...
In Scotland, Braemar (339m) has an annual average temperature of 6.4°C, while average at Ben Nevis (1344m) is -0.3°C. Looking again at Everest, the temperature at that altitude would be -40°C compared to an average of 15°C at sea level. It is not surprising, therefore, to hear that spiders have been discovered living high in the Himalayas that rely on a natural anti-freeze for survival in the sub-zero temperatures! |
Full article http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/understanding/altitude.shtml
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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brian
brian
Guest
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Incidentally, this bit:
"Moist air behaves differently as once it starts rising, the water vapour starts to condense. This change of water state releases some heat and reduces the rate of cooling. "
.... is the Foehn effect. The air is forced to rise as it hits the mountains, thus releasing heat as described above and the dry, warmed, snow stripping air blows down the lee slope on the other side.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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kuwait_ian, this is really sad as I now have to go away and work it out...I wish I wasn't a bl*ody engineer...
I hate the Foehn snoweater, it attacked us during our trip a couple of weeks ago 
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FAQ
