Weather
After a dry start, the European Alps should pick up a modest weekend refresh before a colder and much more uncertain storm cycle tries to organize in the second half of next week. Most of Thursday through Saturday afternoon looks quiet for skiing, then snow spreads in late Saturday and Sunday with generally light to moderate totals, snow levels mostly around 900 to 1,400 meters, and only modest wind impact. Confidence is highest from late Saturday through Monday evening, when the guidance is clustered around at least some fresh snow for most higher terrain. After Tuesday, the pattern turns more active but much less settled, with a colder late-week storm signal that still needs more time to sort out placement and scale.
Guidance is tightly converged from Thursday through Saturday afternoon on a mostly dry stretch, so skiing weather should be fairly straightforward to start the period. Temperatures at forecast elevations generally stay near -7 to 1 C, which should keep high terrain in decent shape after cold mornings while afternoons trend more springlike on sun-exposed slopes. Timing and intensity agreement are strong here because nearly every solution keeps meaningful precipitation out of the Alps until late Saturday or Saturday night. Wind signals are also clustered on the lighter side, with most terrain staying under about 10 km/h and only occasional ridge gusts near 20 to 25 km/h, so this part of the forecast is more about maintaining surfaces than chasing fresh snow.
The weekend wave still looks like a modest refresh rather than a major storm, with many higher resorts favored for 5-15 cm from late Saturday through Monday evening. Confidence is highest in that time range because the individual models are converging on the broader timing, with the first burst arriving Saturday night into early Sunday for the central and eastern Alps and a trailing push lingering into Sunday night or Monday farther west, even though they still diverge on exactly where the best banding sets up. Snow levels are also reasonably well clustered while it is snowing, generally around 900 to 1,400 meters, so upper mountain terrain should stay all snow while the lowest villages can run wetter at times. Snow quality does not look especially fluffy, with most guidance holding SLR near 12 to 15, which points to moderate-density snow and soft refresh conditions rather than blower powder. Wind impacts stay fairly limited, with exposed terrain mostly seeing only moderate gusts.
Tuesday is the clearest breather, then Wednesday into next weekend carries a broader 15-40 cm higher-elevation signal for many Alps resorts, with bigger upside in favored western and northern terrain if the wettest solutions verify. That signal is not locked in. The individual models all advertise a colder turn and renewed snowfall, but they diverge sharply on onset, whether the western Alps cash in by Wednesday or Thursday or the heaviest snow holds off until later Friday or Saturday, and on how widespread the stronger accumulations become. Snow levels look favorable once the storm matures, generally falling into the 300 to 1,000 meter range, and snow quality should improve into a mostly moderate to occasionally lighter 12 to 16 SLR setup. Wind impacts are the least settled part of the package: many solutions keep exposed terrain manageable, but the stronger scenarios bring gustier high ridges late in the period.
Resort Forecast Totals (Sat Mar 21 – Mon Mar 23)
- Cervinia – 11-17 cm
- Val Thorens – 10-16 cm
- Samnaun – 7-10 cm
- Val d’Isère – 6-9 cm
- Cortina d’Ampezzo – 6-9 cm
- Ischgl – 5-8 cm
- Sölden – 5-8 cm
- Chamonix – 5-8 cm
- Tignes – 5-8 cm
- St. Moritz – 5-8 cm
- Zermatt – 5-7 cm
- St. Anton – 4-6 cm
- Wengen (Jungfrau) – 3-5 cm
- Courchevel – 3-4 cm
- Verbier – 1-2 cm
- Kitzbühel – 0 cm
