Weather
A well-organized storm will deliver a solid Wednesday afternoon through Friday refresh across the Alps, followed by a quieter weekend and a less certain reload early next week. Confidence is highest from Wednesday afternoon through Friday morning, when guidance is tightly clustered on widespread snowfall, a quick drop in snow levels, and enough wind for some exposed lift impacts. Much of the higher Alps should come away with 30 cm-60 cm, the northwestern Alps can do better with local totals near 80 cm-100 cm, and lower elevations should turn from a brief wet start to much better snow quality by Thursday.
Snow spreads in Wednesday afternoon and evening, then intensifies overnight into Thursday before tapering Friday morning. Guidance is converging well on timing and intensity for this first wave, with the heaviest and most reliable snowfall centered on the northwestern and northern Alps. That supports broad storm totals of 30 cm-60 cm for much of the higher Alps, local 80 cm-100 cm in the northwestern Alps, and a lighter 15 cm-25 cm toward parts of the southern Alps. Snow levels start near 700-1,500 meters, highest in the warmer western and eastern valleys, then crash to around 0-400 meters by Thursday, so even lower bases should flip to snow fairly quickly. Snow quality improves with that cooling trend: SLRs are mostly 10-14 at the onset, then rise into the 16-19 range for lighter, fluffier turns through Thursday. Ridge winds are also fairly consistent, with many exposed areas seeing 50-80 km/h gusts at times Wednesday night and Thursday.
Friday afternoon through most of Sunday looks like the steadiest stretch of the forecast. After the main storm exits, guidance generally converges on a quieter pattern with only minor leftover snow showers and lighter winds. Fresh snow should preserve well at higher elevations because colder nights should help hold decent surface quality, while daytime softening is more likely on lower and sunnier slopes. A few weak pulses can still brush the range, but most of them look limited to nuisance accumulations of 0 cm-10 cm rather than a meaningful reset, so the main story for the weekend is calmer lifts and good retention of the new snow where Thursday’s totals stacked up deepest.
Another storm signal arrives Monday into Tuesday, but confidence drops noticeably beyond Sunday because guidance diverges on almost every detail that matters. Most solutions bring another round of snowfall to the western and northern Alps, yet they split sharply on timing, total moisture, snow levels, and ridge wind strength. The colder camp would support another 20 cm-50 cm with SLRs in the 14-17 range and snow levels mostly below 700 meters, while the warmest outcome would keep some lower elevations mixed and hold snow levels closer to 1,500-1,800 meters with denser 8-10 ratio snow. That keeps the realistic read conservative for now: expect another refresh for favored terrain early next week, with the details still too loose to pin down, and only a lower-confidence chance of additional snow by Thursday and Friday.
Resort Forecast Totals (Wed Mar 25 – Fri Mar 27)
- Wengen (Jungfrau) – 79 cm-103 cm
- Les 3 Vallées – 48 cm-63 cm
- Val Thorens – 47 cm-61 cm
- Verbier – 47 cm-60 cm
- Chamonix – 44 cm-57 cm
- Kitzbühel – 37 cm-49 cm
- St. Anton – 37 cm-48 cm
- Sölden – 36 cm-47 cm
- Tignes – 35 cm-45 cm
- Samnaun – 34 cm-44 cm
- Val d’Isère – 29 cm-37 cm
- Ischgl – 27 cm-36 cm
- St. Moritz – 23 cm-30 cm
- Cortina d’Ampezzo – 17 cm-21 cm
- Cervinia – 14 cm-18 cm
- Zermatt – 13 cm-17 cm
