Industry News
New data analysis has identified the snowiest ski resorts in the Southern Hemisphere, revealing which destinations offer the greatest snow security across Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and Chile. Based on 15 years of historical snowfall records, the findings highlight not only the top-performing resorts but also the specific weeks of the season that have historically delivered the deepest powder.
The comprehensive study, conducted by the global ski-season informational website Snow Season Central, collected and analyzed historical snowfall records from the top 20 ski resorts in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and Chile. The analysis was based on industry-leading data from Snow Forecast, which examines mid-mountain snowfall patterns over the last 15 years between the 1st of June and the 30th of September.
Australia and New Zealand’s Snowiest Ski Resorts
Treble Cone, located near the popular ski resort town of Wanaka in the South Island of New Zealand, came out on top for overall snowfall, with an impressive 137″ (349 cm) between June and September. This is 134% higher than Perisher, Australia’s most popular resort, and 90% more than Coronet Peak, one of the two resorts near Queenstown, New Zealand.
Falls Creek, located in the state of Victoria, was Australia’s snowiest ski resort, with 78″ (199 cm) over the same period. The analysis showed that most New Zealand resorts receive more snowfall than Australian ski resorts, and that the New South Wales resorts of Thredbo and Perisher received the least over the recorded period. In fact, Falls Creek has historically received 39% more snow than Thredbo.
South America Dominates on Snowfall
The study found that some South American ski resorts will receive over three times as much snowfall as most Australian or New Zealand ski resorts. So for powder chasers, this will be an appealing destination.
Nevados de Chillan (Chile) resort was crowned the Southern Hemisphere’s snowiest resort with a huge 272″ (691 cm) historically over the winter months from June 1 through to September 30.
Cerro Catedral, Argentina’s largest ski resort, came in second with 186″ (473 cm) of snowfall, closely followed by Valle Nevado in Chile.
The Snowiest Weeks to Ski the Southern Hemisphere
The study also looked at which week of the season has historically been the best for high snowfall at each resort and might be suitable for people seeking powder snow conditions.
As expected, this varied greatly by country, but there were some similarities between resorts in close proximity.
Nevados de Chillan (Chile) received, on average, 27″ (68cm) of snow in the fourth week of August, according to the data, making it not only the snowiest resort overall but the snowiest week of all the data looked at.
“As climate change continues to impact the snowsports industry, it is increasingly important for businesses and consumers to keep an eye on trends like these. While there are many factors that should be considered when planning a trip, snowfall is certainly something to look at. As climate trends change, advertised snowfall stats from resort websites can become outdated and not reflective of recent seasons. Therefore, unbiased sources like Snow Forecast are invaluable in providing insight.”
– Ed Raine, Director of Snow Season Central
See all the findings of the study on Snow Season Central, including a week-by-week snowfall breakdown of data for each resort.
Methodology: How the Snowiest Southern Hemisphere Resorts Were Ranked
The selection process for the ski resorts was based on a minimum ski slope terrain. For Australia and New Zealand, this was six miles (10 km), while it was increased to 22 miles (35 km) for Chile and Argentina due to larger resorts. This data was based on resort stats from skiresort.info.
Data were collected from Snow Forecast on May 27, 2023, and reflect historical snowfall for each week for which data are available. The data were collected at mid-mountain altitudes between 2007 and 2022 for each resort.
Historical weekly snowfall data between the selected dates (1 June – 30 September) was then added up to provide the total snowfall over the three months of winter (June, July, August) and the first month of spring (September).
Week-on-week snowfall
Third party websites like SnowForecast often have incomplete info so most of these numbers are understated. The ski areas themselves have poor and inconsistent reporting, so how can we expect a third party to conjure real numbers out of thin air? Huge red flags for accuracy:
1) Valle Nevado no way exceeds its next door neighbor with the same altitude range La Parva by the degree claimed.
2) Catedral is no way the second snowiest location in South America. Chillan is probably #1 but surely Corralco is #2.
It is true that Southern Hemisphere snow reliability is far worse than many if not most northern destinations. Reasons?
1) Australia low altitude (max 6,600 feet at 37 latitude) means too much rain vs. snow. Nonetheless the Spencer’s Creek hydrology site has averaged 196cm maximum base depth since 1954 (187cm over the past 15 years), clear evidence that your Thredbo/Perisher snowfalls are incomplete/understated. Locals will tell you that excessive rain is the big problem with Aussie skiing.
2) South Island New Zealand areas are all on the leeward side/shadow of higher mountains. Island weather also means lots of wind, some rain and usually high water content snow. I have scattered data suggesting average snowfalls of 94 inches at Coronet Peak, 134 at The Remarkables and 191 at Mt. Hutt. Treble Cone by reputation should be similar to Mt Hutt.
3) High altitude South America resorts are the latitude of Los Angeles/San Diego and similarly subject to extended month-long dry spells even though they are high enough to avoid rain. Farther south altitude is lower and rain is an issue. Catedral and other Argentine Lake District areas are well leeward of the Andes crest with correspondingly less snow, similar to New Zealand. 4) Chillan and Corralco have the best balance in the Southern Hemisphere, far enough south for more consistent precipitation, high enough for some but not chronic rain, possibly 300-350 inches snow per year but no hard data to back that up.
5) Only Portillo keeps consistent data. It averaged 254 inches per year from 1970-2007. But Central Chile is suffering an extended drought. Portillo;s brochure quote for snowfall is now 200 inches, and its unofficial average (in-season tracking, may miss some after ski area closing) since 2008 is 172 inches.
The enumeration of weekly snowiest weeks is some of most useless info I’ve ever seen. That info is swamped by the extreme volatility of snowfall. What matters is the amount of snow on the ground, which is almost never adequate in June. Ask locals. They look at July the way we Americans look at December for snow reliability; that’s when they hope to attain an adequate base.
Can’t justify going away to ski in the summertime as a working person in the US with limited income and time off…but if I were free to do anything I wanted whenever I wanted I would.
Does anyone know why the snowiest areas in the southern hemisphere only get half or a third of what the snowiest areas in the northern hemisphere get?