Weather
- Credit: WeatherBell
Expect a mostly dry stretch across the European Alps through Sunday, followed by a lower-confidence transition to light snow early next week and a better-defined snow window from Wednesday afternoon through Friday. Guidance is tightly aligned on the quiet short-term pattern, then spreads out on storm timing and intensity later in the period. For skiers, the most dependable call is stable surface conditions first, then incremental refreshes midweek with the best shot at meaningful new snow in higher western and southern alpine terrain.
From Wednesday through Sunday, the individual models are strongly converged on a mostly dry pattern with only isolated flurries. Temperatures generally run around -10 °C to 5 °C across elevations, with colder overnight windows and milder afternoon breaks, so surface quality should cycle between firmer morning snow and softer turns on sun-exposed slopes later in the day. Winds stay manageable for most terrain, with sustained speeds commonly in the 5 km/hr to 20 km/hr range and only brief ridge-top bumps. This is the highest-confidence part of the broader timeline because timing and intensity signals are tightly clustered.
Monday into Tuesday is a transition period, and the individual models diverge on intensity while still pointing to only a light refresh for most resorts. Snowfall timing is generally clustered from early Monday through Tuesday evening, but guidance spread on amounts is wide, ranging from mostly trace outcomes to localized light accumulation in favored higher terrain. Snow levels during this period are not tightly aligned, with most solutions placing them between 1,300 meters and 2,100 meters when precipitation is falling. Where snow does fall, snow quality looks mixed to fair, with SLRs mostly around 8:1 to 13:1, meaning denser snow at times with occasional moderate quality pockets.
Wednesday afternoon through Friday midday is the clearest window for a broader alpine snowfall signal, but confidence is moderate because the models still diverge on peak timing, intensity, and wind response. The consensus favors the best in-window accumulations in higher western and southern zones, with many resorts landing in a conservative 1 cm to 10 cm envelope and top-end in-window outcomes closer to 6 cm to 14 cm. Snow levels while it is snowing are mostly projected near 1,400 meters to 2,000 meters, and snow quality should stay mostly moderate with SLRs near 10:1 to 14:1. Beyond Friday, spread increases sharply: a wetter scenario can deliver an additional 10 cm to 40 cm by next weekend, while drier solutions keep totals much lower in parts of the Eastern Alps. Ridge winds also become less certain late, with potential rises toward 30 km/hr to 40 km/hr in wetter outcomes.
Resort Forecast Totals (Wed Mar 11 – Fri Mar 13)
- Cervinia – 6 cm to 14 cm
- Zermatt – 5 cm to 13 cm
- Val Thorens – 5 cm to 12 cm
- Val d’Isère – 4 cm to 10 cm
- St. Moritz – 4 cm to 10 cm
- Tignes – 4 cm to 9 cm
- Courchevel – 3 cm to 8 cm
- Verbier – 3 cm to 7 cm
- Chamonix – 3 cm to 6 cm
- Sölden – 2 cm to 5 cm
- Samnaun – 2 cm to 5 cm
- Wengen (Jungfrau) – 1 cm to 3 cm
- Cortina d’Ampezzo – 1 cm to 2 cm
- Ischgl – 1 cm to 2 cm
- St. Anton – 0 cm
- Kitzbühel – 0 cm
