 Poster: A snowHead
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Just returned from a week in Austria. The conditions were AWESOME...for apres ski...which started at around 13:30 when the slushfest started and piste was a heavy slushy mess. Lasty week saw a significant thaw and conditions will be even worse this week.
I think I recall one decent dump of snow throughout the entire season until now. Yes there's regional variations no doubt but largely speaking, this season has sucked in the Alps - during the last few COVID years they had meters of snow with no one there.
Just wondered what the general opinion is, how bad is this season and how far back do you go to find a worse season than this?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Either side of 2015 (14/15 & 15/16) was quiet poor
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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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It almost never happens to me - but, despite being much more crowded than usual, I think we may well have hit the best week of the season so far - Tignes 21st-28th Jan.
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@Pyramus, whereabouts in Austria were you? Heading out on Weds - think I may have had a shocker with Fasching week (had never heard of this phenomenon until last week! Normally ski in France).
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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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We were in Österreich this last week and skied some on some fantastic pistes in the Zillertal. Crisp and grippy on the higher north facing slopes. the freeriding was marginal but still found some nice stuff
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@Pyramus, had the best week in European Alps in the last 20 y. It was third week of January in La Rosiere
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@Pyramus, ...2002 was a no snow year in many places at Christmas. Bad. Warm. Rain. But then it picked up. Decent low temps and snow fall, good skiing to Easter.
In reverse for last year:
July and Aug in Cambridge 40deg. Mad. Record highs. In Valais, above 40deg. Terrible. High fire risk.
April late dumps and decent low temps at altitude. Good days.
Feb snow drought but what was there was kept by cold high pressure systems.
Christmas poor.
This following analysis is actually of great concern in my view - a German skiing friend called it 'terrifying'. I think she is right:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01575-3
From Swiss Meteo:
After the meteorological winter at the end of February, measurable amounts of fresh snow (snow cover of 1 cm or more) regularly fall at stations to the north and south of the Alps. Sometimes, the amount of snow that falls can be huge.
A typical example was the weekend of 4th and 5th March 2006, when many places in northwestern, northern and northeastern Switzerland saw between 40 and 50+ cm of fresh snow fall. At several measurement sites, such as those in Basel, Delémont, Zurich and St. Gallen, the highest one-day total of fresh snow in the entire measurement series up to 2020 was recorded on that particular weekend.
This was not the first time massive snowfall events were observed in March. On 11th March 1931 in Bern, for example, there was a blanket of snow measuring 96 cm. This is the highest value in the entire measurement series.
Over the long term, the average number of days with fresh snow on the northern side of the Alps is two to three in March, and one to two in April. Snowfall is rare after the middle of April.
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89-90 was worse in northern france
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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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| under a new name wrote: |
| 89-90 was worse in northern france |
much worse due to the lack of snow making. Funny you metion this year as people are saying it is the worst season for 30 years.
This is the current situation in the Chartreuse at 1350m
if December had been colder the season would have been ok but below 1800m we're basically skiing on man made or the 30cm of snow that fell on the 20th January. The issue as I see it as this follows an exceptionally long and hot summer that began back in April. I think there were around 40 days of heatwave; which is exceptional and wasn't expected until the 2050s.
The question is not whether we'll be skiing in April but whether we'll have any water. There are hamlets already being supplied by tanker in some parts of the Northern Alps.
2015/16 is probably similar though; where I am.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Sun 19-02-23 20:52; edited 1 time in total
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Spent a week in val gardena from 28 jan to 4 feb. Conditions were great, plenty of snow, good piste conditions and lots of sunshine.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It has been an “interesting” season for us in St Anton. We arrived on 2 Jan and the first week was warm & wet (yeah, I know the Good Morning, Vietnam joke line  ), to the point where the field across the road from the Shell servo was actually green, ie not even brown.
The cold then set in - for 4 or 5 weeks. In 20 years, that is the longest sustained period of double-digit negatives I can remember. It kept the snow in good condition, and where the groomers had been scraped off, it provided good training for skiing hard ice. 
Now, almost like a switch was flicked, we went from deep winter to late-March. The snow has receded from the village, including our deck, which is now bare (does not happen often). The Stanzertal became predominantly brown yesterday. The bottom slopes, apart from those covered by man-made are quite bare. Double-digit positives are forecast for the next few days.
Since 2 Jan, there have been only 2 significant snowfall events, and maybe 2 or 3 5 - 10cm top-ups. The Galzig snow depth topped out at 175cm for a very brief few days. It is now around 140ish.
So, not many powder sessions and some of my favourite off piste lines have not been skiable, at least by me, eg Zwischen under the Osthang load. Some pistes have not been created, and now unlikely to be this season.
In short, I think it might be the lightest season we have experienced in 20 years in the Arlberg. That said, we have made the most of it and have had a ball. Let’s see what our final 3 weeks of our 2023 season brings.
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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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@halfhand, mooney058 you were lucky and probably picked one of the only decent weeks in the season after the snow event towards end of Jan while it was still cold.
@ulmerhutte,
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In short, I think it might be the lightest season we have experienced in 20 years in the Arlberg.
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Yes this is consistent with what I thought - it's pretty bad in the context of recent memory.
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@Pyramus, have you a taxi available?
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You know it makes sense.
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2015/16 was really bad here in NW French alps. This year is close but saved by the very cold period mid Jan-mid Feb. Still a terrible season though.
However, with wall to wall sunshine, I would imagine your average punter is quite happy.
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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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2015/16 was really bad here in NW French alps. This year is close but saved by the very cold period mid Jan-mid Feb. Still a terrible season though.
However, with wall to wall sunshine, I would imagine your average punter is quite happy.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Heading to Scandinavia in March. Hoping it will remain cold and snowy. December in Val d'isere was good.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Pyramus, Stanton offers great sight seeing tours if the snow is bad, he has great mirrors
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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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This year is statistically the worst for a very long time. That said, last week I was very surprised at the conditions we had in Ischgl, given the very small base. Even with the warm weather it was only really the last day that it went humid and things get a little slushy down low.
2015/16 was not bad when I look at my videos from Tignes at half term! Powder galore and a great base.
88/99 - was shocking. 92/93 was HUGE early season, as in October / Nov - then it was very lean, but there was so much snow early, it lasted all season with small top ups.
Fun fact, Mammoth has had more snow in only 36 hours than the entire season so far in the majority of resorts in the Alps!
It's an odd season, but this is weather these days. But we have had seasons like this 40 years ago and it wasn't being discussed as climate change.
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We should not necessarily confuse lack of snowfall with a lack of skiing. The anticyclone has brought cool settled weather and dry air to the alps, perfect for piste skiing. Only recently has it become warm.
The south east side of the Alps has had a very successful season in terms of skier numbers and presumably ticket sales.
However it is clear that off piste skiing has been unreliable in the Alps so far this year and we only have to look at the UK to see where the climate trend is going 
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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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Steve Angus's recent pictures from Val d'Isere suggest the snow is pretty good. Pretty well white all over, though no doubt the off piste, if picturesque, is not much cop.
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@Alex A, you claim that this year is the worst for a very long time, I assume you mean so far if your facts are correct?
you reference seasons, well if I am correct the season hasn’t finished in mid Feb?
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Why do we all respond to the troll?
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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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| ribblevalleyblue wrote: |
| Why do we all respond to the troll? |
Which one, there are so many these days 
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@halfhand, I hadn't spotted one in this thread so was a bit confused.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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So, this is where “our” powder went…
…from FB.
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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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Hi Bob - as we drove back to UK from the Valais this weekend it really felt like returning from an Easter skiing period. Looking up around the hills, feeling the valley temps…..Easter….
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You know it makes sense.
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I’m fairly sure that we aren’t experiencing poor/bad/worst/terrible seasons, we are experiencing in political terms “the new normal".
The old 5 or 6 month reliable snow season is long gone in most places, and as the effects of Global warming strengthen, it will shorten further. Yes, there will be periods of heavy snow (local/regional weather) that bring brilliant conditions, but the overall the prognosis isn’t good.
Only going from my perspective, on the last trips I made to Canada, Japan and Europe, I experienced poor snow conditions, lack of snow fall and temperatures 10C+ higher than expected for days on end.
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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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Its been like this before, and it will be like this again. Next year might be the best ever. Thats how its always been.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Had 2 weeks in Paradiski with great snow in Jan followed by a week in the Val di Fassa also with lots of snow nearly 3 weeks of sun as well ...I am def not complaining
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Not if you’re a mountain restaurant owner from what I’ve seen .
Meanwhile I’ll answer the question mid April .
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@jellylegs, a pretty denialist comment there, sure there is always random variability, but this part of an obvious long term trend and only those with vested interests would really dispute it:
In the Alps seasonal (November–May) mean snow depth, recorded in several hundreds of in-situ snow depth observations, experienced an 8.4% decline per decade between 1971 and 2019, with a parallel reduction of 5.6% per decade in snow cover duration*
*https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01575-3
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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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I’ll let you know at the end of April….
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| chocksaway wrote: |
| I’ll let you know at the end of April…. |
Or hopefully even the second week of May
That said, we were extremely fortunate here in Serre Chevalier that we had the snow we did get around December 17th when elsewhere in the French Alps it was nigh on three days of rain, but if it had been cooler just imagine the accumulations!
That said it has been so dry, the pistes are holding up really well and there are no issues.
It's just the off-piste and touring that is really suffering and that was not helped by the high winds.
And today we were walking the dogs in shorts and t-shirts but looks like a return to winter temps soon.
And as people have said March can be great!
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Thanks for that @rambotion, interesting analysis using a clever approach. Seems pretty clear that snow cover duration has had a decreasing trend from somewhere around the start of the twentieth century. Before that, although there is quite a wide variance in individual annual figures there was no long term trend up or down across five centuries.
If the last 100 years' trend is to continue, we can expect a shortening season by around 5-6 days per decade. @chocksaway's April skiing may become a thing of the past.
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As of today, Meteo-Alpes summarises the current France snow deficit as such:
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| In short, we find ourselves with the lowest snow cover for the period since 2010/2011 in places, often since 1988/1989 and locally since 1963/1964 in some sectors... |
This is for all the French massifs, so not just the Alps, and probably for natural snow cover rather than piste coverage.
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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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We had the best conditions we've seen for years (Selva, end of Jan). And 3 sets of friends have been to Sauze on 3 separate weeks (early Jan to now) and have reported great snow/conditions. So it's definitely not all bad everywhere.
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@j b,
Weirdly that is not what we've been seeing over here regarding the shorter end if season. Last season was very dry in February (fairly common), and March (not that common), then snowed in April, May and even June quite a bit.
This year is fairly steady on the Coastal mountains after a strangely very cold and dry start. Tons of snow in US, not very much in the Canadian rockies.
I think like all things climate change related, it's not a predictable shortening, but wildly unpredictable.
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