Weather
South America has one solid snow window from Friday through Saturday, led by Nevados de Chillán with 17-23 cm and anywhere from 8-22 cm across the higher central Andes. Confidence is highest from Friday through Saturday, when the guidance is most aligned on storm timing, while Sunday brings a lower-confidence follow-up for southern Chile and the late-week pattern looks much less certain.
Friday into early Saturday is the most reliable stretch of the forecast, and the guidance is converging well on the timing of a Chile-centered storm even though snowfall intensity still varies from model to model. Valle Nevado, El Colorado, La Parva, and Portillo should do the best in central Chile, with current resort totals ranging from 8-22 cm, while Las Leñas looks closer to 7-11 cm in the same window. Snow levels mostly hover between 2,200 and 3,000 meters during the steadiest precipitation, so the cleanest snow should stay on upper-mountain terrain, especially at Valle Nevado and La Parva, while lower terrain at El Colorado and Portillo may run denser or mix early. Snow quality in the higher central Andes looks mostly moderate, with SLRs around 8-12, dropping closer to 4-7 at times lower down. Exposed ridges could see 40-50 km/h gusts Friday afternoon and Friday night, enough to affect operations where lifts are spinning. Portillo, Valle Nevado, and La Parva are still closed, so that snow is mainly a preseason coverage gain there.
Nevados de Chillán carries the best snowfall signal through the weekend, but by Saturday night into Sunday the guidance starts to diverge more sharply on a second wave for the Chilean volcanoes. The first pulse Friday is well supported and already supports 17-23 cm through Saturday at Nevados de Chillán, with snow levels mostly 1,300 to 2,000 meters and dense snow favored by SLRs around 5-8. After that, most of the guidance still keeps another round alive into Sunday, but the spread widens on both timing and intensity, so the better call is a modest additional reload of roughly 5-15 cm at the snowier volcanoes rather than a locked-in storm total. Corralco is the trickier call because snow levels look fine but amounts vary widely, from only a light refresh in the drier guidance to a more useful Sunday shot in the wetter camp, and exposed terrain there could see 70-90 km/h gusts if the stronger solution verifies. Chapelco and Cerro Catedral stay mostly quiet through this part of the forecast.
Monday through midweek looks quieter across most of South America, with the guidance generally converging on a drier stretch after the weekend waves slide east. That should mean little to no meaningful new snow in the central Andes, only spotty leftovers in southern Chile, and a better chance for whatever falls this weekend to settle rather than get buried again right away. Late in the forecast, confidence drops quickly: the GFS is the clear snowiest outlier for Patagonia from Wednesday night into next Saturday, mainly around Cerro Castor and secondarily Cerro Catedral, while most of the rest of the guidance keeps amounts much lighter. If the snowier southern solution wins, Patagonia could still squeeze out a conservative 5-15 cm with snow levels near 300 to 600 meters, but the more dependable message right now is wind before snow, with several rounds of 60-80 km/h gusts looking more likely than a meaningful reload. Cerro Castor is still closed, so even that late-window scenario would be more about snowpack than immediate skiing.
Resort Forecast Totals (Fri Mar 20 – Sat Mar 21)
- Nevados de Chillán – 17-23 cm
- Valle Nevado – 15-22 cm
- El Colorado – 12-18 cm
- La Parva – 11-16 cm
- Portillo – 8-12 cm
- Las Leñas – 7-11 cm
- Corralco – 2-3 cm
- Chapelco – 0 cm
- Cerro Castor – 0 cm
- Cerro Catedral – 0 cm
