Weather
A mostly quiet start flips to a widespread midweek snow cycle across the European Alps, with the best conditions building from Wednesday afternoon, March 25, through Saturday morning, March 28. Monday and Tuesday look largely dry aside from a few leftover light snow showers, then a colder storm arrives Wednesday afternoon and night with snow levels dropping from roughly 1,000 to 1,400 meters to valley floors by Thursday. Many resorts should come away with 30 cm-60 cm, favored western and northern areas can push higher, and Wengen (Jungfrau) stands out near 75 cm-127 cm. Winds also ramp up during the heart of the storm, so expect the roughest upper-mountain conditions from Wednesday night into Thursday before a colder, drier weekend settles things down.
Sunday afternoon through Tuesday, March 24, is the quieter stretch, and guidance is converging well on mostly dry skiing after a few minor leftover showers fade out. Most resorts only squeeze out a few stray centimeters at most through Monday, with Tuesday notably dry across the board. Temperatures stay supportive of decent surface preservation at elevation, but there is not much fresh snow of consequence before midweek. Winds stay modest through this stretch, so the main story is stable conditions rather than weather disruption. Confidence is highest from Wednesday afternoon, March 25, through Saturday morning, March 28, because timing, storm structure, the snow-level crash, and the wind increase are the parts of the forecast the guidance handles most consistently.
All guidance is converging on a widespread storm arriving Wednesday afternoon and intensifying Wednesday night through Friday, with the strongest agreement on timing, the sharp drop in snow levels, and much better snow quality after the initial burst. Snow levels start around 1,000 to 1,400 meters Wednesday afternoon, then collapse to valley floors Wednesday night and Thursday, so nearly all of this cycle falls as snow at resort elevations. The first push looks a bit denser with SLRs mostly in the 12-14 range, then turns much lighter and drier with SLRs commonly in the 17-19 range from Thursday into Friday. Many resorts should land in the 30 cm-60 cm zone for the full storm, with bigger amounts in the favored western and northern Alps including Verbier at 48 cm-79 cm, Val Thorens at 45 cm-75 cm, and Wengen (Jungfrau) at 75 cm-127 cm. Winds are also converging on a meaningful upper-mountain hit, with exposed terrain seeing sustained speeds around 20 km/h to 40 km/h and gusts locally near 60 km/h to 80 km/h during the roughest period from Wednesday night into Thursday.
After the main storm winds down Friday night into Saturday, confidence drops off as the models begin diverging on both coverage and intensity for the rest of the period, even though they are more consistent in keeping snow levels low enough for snow and winds lighter. The weekend signal still supports occasional light snow, but it looks more like scattered refreshes than a true second storm, with most places seeing little more than a dusting to around 10 cm and the better odds for a modest top-up leaning toward Austria and the Jungfrau. Snow quality still looks solid where showers develop, generally with moderate to light snow in the 13-17 SLR range, while upper-mountain conditions should be less disruptive than Thursday. Farther out, late Tuesday into Wednesday carries the biggest spread of the forecast: the GFS is much snowier than the rest, while the other guidance keeps that period weak or only modestly snowy. That leaves the extended outlook leaning colder and somewhat unsettled, but any next round after the weekend still looks too uncertain for precise numbers beyond a broad spread from almost nothing to roughly 20 cm-40 cm in the snowiest outcome.
Resort Forecast Totals (Wed Mar 25 – Sat Mar 28)
- Wengen (Jungfrau) – 75 cm-127 cm
- Verbier – 48 cm-79 cm
- Val Thorens – 45 cm-75 cm
- Chamonix – 43 cm-72 cm
- Kitzbühel – 35 cm-60 cm
- Courchevel – 34 cm-57 cm
- Tignes – 32 cm-54 cm
- Sölden – 30 cm-51 cm
- St. Anton – 28 cm-47 cm
- Samnaun – 27 cm-46 cm
- Val d’Isère – 26 cm-43 cm
- Ischgl – 23 cm-40 cm
- St. Moritz – 21 cm-36 cm
- Cortina d’Ampezzo – 19 cm-32 cm
- Zermatt – 14 cm-23 cm
- Cervinia – 14 cm-23 cm
