August 9th, 2013 at Valle Nevado, Chile. image: valle nevado

South America has been a land of juxtaposition this austral winter. The central Andes (Valle Nevado, Portillo, Las Lenas, Penitentes) saw a huge 10-foot snowstorm in early June that put them all in business early this season. The southern Andes (Cerro Catedral, Nevados de Chillan, Cerro Castor, Corralco) still haven’t seen appreciable snow yet and they’ve all had to push back their opening dates up to 5 times and are still not open. But snow is on its way.

This coming snow storm is going to bury the central Andean ski resorts while giving some respite to the southern resorts.

Fingers crossed for big snow everywhere.

SOUTH AMERICAN SKI RESORT FORECASTS:

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VALLE NEVADO, CHILE:

161cms (63″) of snow forecast by Tuesday
Open daily

Valle Nevado forecast showing 161cms of snow by Tuesday. image: snow-forecast.com

Valle Nevado, Chile yesterday. photo: valle nevado

POWDER SOUTH HELISKI, CHILE:

105cms (41″) of snow forecast by Tuesday
Open on July 16th
Learn more about Powder South Heliski:

Ski the Biggest Lines in South America | Powder South Heliski Guides

Powder South forecast showing 105cms of snow by Tuesday. image: snow-forecast.com

Powder South has BIG terrain. photo: powder south, stock image

PORTILLO, CHILE:

99cms (39″) of snow forecast by Tuesday
Open daily

Portillo forecast showing 99cms of snow by Tuesday. image: snow-forecast.com

Portillo, Chile on June 7th. photo: portillo

LAS LENAS, ARGENTINA:

92cms (36″) of snow forecast by Tuesday
Open daily

Las Lenas forecast showing 96cms of snow by Tuesday. image: snow-forecast.com — Las Lenas forecast showing 92cms of snow by Tuesday. image: snow-forecast.com

NEVADOS DE CHILLAN, CHILE:

56cms (22″) of snow forecast by Tuesday
Opening date TBD

Nevados de Chillan forecast showing 56cms of snow by Tuesday. image: snow-forecast.com

Nevados de Chillan had their bike park open last weekend. photos: chillan, july 2nd

CERRO CATEDRAL, ARGENTINA:

26cms (10″) of snow forecast by Tuesday
Open date TBD

Catedral forecast showing 26cms of snow by Tuesday. image: snow-forecast.com

Cerro Catedral on July 5th. photo: Gladys Galati‎

CERRO CASTOR, ARGENTINA:

14cms (5.5″) of snow forecast by Tuesday
Open date July 8th

Castro forecast showing 14ms of snow by Tuesday. image: snow-forecast.com

Cerro Castor yesterday. photo: Carlos Candela

One thought on “South America Is About To Get BURIED In Snow | Up to 63″ of Snow Forecast Next 5-Days”

Tony Crocker says:

July 8, 2016 at 10:19 pm

The reality is that Valle Nevado usually gets less snow than Portillo or Las Lenas. SnowForecast has a history of consistently overprojecting Valle Nevado. The 36-39 inch prediction for Portillo/Las Lenas: that’s what we might expect overall for the central Andes.

10-22 inches for areas farther south that aren’t open yet are a step in the right direction but a long way from actual good skiing, especially on steep terrain.

If North America looked like this on January 8 we would all be moaning about what a disastrous start to the season (see 2011-12). Sadly this is not an infrequent situation in South America during several of the past 5-6 seasons.

All of this underlines that when scheduling to less reliable ski regions of the world, stick to the core of the season to optimize conditions. As noted on a recent SnowBrains feature, that means August/early September for South America.

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South America Is About To Get BURIED In Snow | Up to 63″ of Snow Forecast Next 5-Days

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