Weather
A weak midweek disturbance brings a modest refresh to the European Alps, then the pattern settles back into mostly dry spring weather through the weekend. The northern and eastern Alps are favored for around 5-15 cm, while most western and southern sectors stay closer to 1-5 cm. Confidence is highest from Tuesday afternoon through Monday night, when snowfall timing is fairly clear, ridge winds ease after Tuesday, and the bigger uncertainty does not arrive until next week.
Tuesday afternoon through Thursday, the guidance is reasonably well converged on a weak fast-moving system and a trailing few showers. Timing is tightest for the northern and eastern Alps, where the snow turns on this afternoon, continues tonight, and fades Wednesday into early Thursday. Intensity stays modest, but the Austrian side and nearby Swiss border terrain should come away with the best refresh, while the western Alps mostly stay on the lighter side. Snow levels generally run 300 to 1,200 meters during the best precipitation, so nearly all lift terrain stays cold enough. Snow quality also improves with elevation, with SLRs near 10-12:1 at some lower Austrian slopes and 14-18:1 higher up in Switzerland and the French high Alps. Exposed ridges are breeziest Tuesday afternoon and evening, with gusts locally 40 to 55 km/h before easing.
Friday through Monday, the guidance clusters tightly around a mostly dry pattern with lighter winds and a gradual warm-up. After the midweek refresh, snowfall shuts down for most of the Alps and weather impacts become more about the spring melt-freeze cycle than new accumulation. Higher elevations should still refreeze well overnight, but many mid and lower slopes will soften by late morning and get slushy in the afternoon as temperatures climb above freezing. Winds look manageable for most lifts in this stretch, generally much lighter than Tuesday, so expect firmer mornings and softer lower-elevation conditions later in the day rather than new snow driving the forecast.
After Monday night, forecast spread increases quickly and the next meaningful change looks much less settled. The guidance diverges on timing and intensity for a possible return to unsettled weather from Tuesday into Thursday, and it also disagrees on how high snow levels run and whether ridge winds become more of an issue. The more likely outcome right now is a warmer setup that keeps the best wintry conditions confined to upper mountain terrain, with denser snow where it does fall. A conservative expectation is for scattered high-elevation snowfall on the order of 5-15 cm, but a few wetter solutions would do more, especially in the western Alps, so this part of the forecast should be treated as tentative.
Resort Forecast Totals (Tue Mar 31 – Sat Apr 04)
- Kitzbühel – 11-14 cm
- Wengen (Jungfrau) – 7-9 cm
- Samnaun – 6-8 cm
- St. Anton – 5-6 cm
- Sölden – 4-6 cm
- Ischgl – 4-5 cm
- St. Moritz – 3-4 cm
- Val Thorens – 2-3 cm
- Les 3 Vallées – 2-3 cm
- Tignes – 2 cm
- Val d’Isère – 1-2 cm
- Verbier – 1 cm
- Zermatt – 1 cm
- Chamonix – 1 cm
- Cortina d’Ampezzo – 0-1 cm
- Cervinia – 0-1 cm
