PowderAlert 10 2025/26 | Party like it's 1999!

25 years on: SLF employees report on the avalanche winter of 1999 - a reminder link

[Disclaimer] The oracle is not wishing for an avalanche catastrophe, it is just describing obvious parallels and is happy about finally arriving big snowfalls that will lead us out of the drought. In Internet 3.0, you always have to add something like that.

Apart from that, at the moment it looks more like a relaxed cousin from 1999 with two big snowfalls (Alert 9 and 10), which may be followed by a bit of flaking and should settle down to 2.5-3.5m of fresh snow after two weeks, than the muscular younger brother. It doesn't look like 4 weeks of exceptional conditions with 5-8m of fresh snow. And anyone who can remember knows that the first two weeks weren't a problem back then either.

The problem this year is not the amount, but our abysmally poor snowpack foundation, which makes this snowfall extremely dangerous again. So watch out! Please don't end up as a social media video of people in an avalanche on a 4er!

So back to the party, because: "There aint't no party like a (Nord) Weststauparty, cause the Nordweststauparty don't stop!". And this time Austria is also invited! At the last parties, the northern eastern Alps were always on the fence or snuck off to the neighbors, but this time the parents east of the Arlberg have also traveled. To kill the party metaphor now, they may not be in the Maldives for two weeks like further west, but a wellness weekend is a start.

Wind

Storms, always storms. Unfortunately, that's the case with westerlies. Full amounts deep into Valais, Graubünden, Bedretto and the French-Italian main ridge.

The oracle repeats itself: it's going to be mega-dangerous again, even in Austria.

Snow line

Fluctuates as usual in westerly conditions. First it goes up to 1400-1600m in the foothills of the Alps in the west, then back down to below 1000m - in between in the north it can go all the way down. In the inner Alps, it shouldn't go much above 1000m. But that depends on the intensity of the precipitation and local factors such as foehn effects.

The amounts

From the Salzkammergut to just east of the Arlberg 30-50cm, possibly 60cm in congested areas.

From the Arlberg to the Hautes Alpes 80-120cm. In congested areas of central Switzerland, Glarus or parts of France, it could be 130 or 140cm, although I would expect the high values to be more in central Switzerland or Glarus.

Where should I go?

To areas on alert 9, i.e. France or Valais, because the base is low, the trees are full and the treeskiing party can start immediately on Monday. Further east it gets more difficult and you can only really step on the gas from Tuesday. East of the Arlberg, the handbrake remains on. It will warm up on Wednesday, it will crack open and it will be dangerous. It will probably snow again on Thursday.

Possibly also worthy of an alarm...

Medium term

It looks like more snow by the weekend. So it's better to take shelter in the trees for the coming week, because it's just too scary above ground. At least that's what the oracle will say.

Powder to the People!

Prediction game #8: Core zone station "Titlisboden (2149m)"

The snow depth prediction game #8 takes place at the station "Titlisboden (2149m)" from Saturday, Feb 14 15:00 to Feb 17 23:59. The initial snow depth at the station "Titlisboden (2149m)" is 125cm (14.2. 15:00).

Write your new snow tip by Sunday, February 15 at 20:00 as a comment below! Reminder: Prediction game rules, prediction reminder by email.

The new PowderGuide map is in the starting blocks!