Just as the book describes the cruel everyday life of war, this alert describes the wonderful everyday life in the west of the Alps that Ullr brings to all locals and travelers for the weekend.
Areas:
It's snowing again and again from the French Hautes Alpes/ or even Maritime Alps to western Switzerland. How far into western Switzerland is not entirely certain, but there will probably be no alerts east of central Switzerland. It's quite possible that a little snow will reach Slovenia/eastern Carinthia, but that depends on the southern component of the coming flow and I don't think so.
This alert is valid until Sunday morning.
Snow line:
It should be largely below 1000m, only in the southern part of France 1200-1400m are also possible in the foothills of the Alps. In the inner Alps and in the north, it should almost always reach far down. That means real powder in all the main ski resorts in the area.
Wind:
Will probably remain moderate to strong above the tree line and there won't be any storm or gale-force winds, so you can actually find powder above the tree line. The avalanche danger will of course not decrease with the coming snowfall (I'm not making any forecasts, that's the job of the professionals), but at least the SLF and the French say that you only have to reckon with the obvious dangers and that skiers can hardly trigger the foundations. Nevertheless, read the bulletins and ski according to the conditions, even if there is good powder.
The amounts:
It will probably snow until Sunday morning, but not constantly, so the main pushes should always arrive in the afternoon and evening on Friday and Saturday and there may also be a few gaps in the cloud cover on Saturday. Ullr seems to think very skier-friendly. Total amounts above 1000m should reach 40-70cm from the Hautes Alpes to the western/northwestern Valais. As the whole thing is falling cold with a persistent westerly flow, I can see a potential of 10-20cm, so that 70-90cm could fall in the French-Swiss border area or in the Belledonne massif or other western backwaters. It's possible that one of the known potholes will reach the magic meter, but I think that's the maximum. From the Bernese Alps/eastern North Valais to central Switzerland, the amounts will probably be around 40-15cm - decreasing from west to east. But the cold also makes surprises of up to 10cm+ possible here in the west. Cosmetics will come further east. Slovenia and eastern Carinthia could get 10-30cm, or nothing. I don't think it will go as far as the Alps and instead stay further south in the Balkans.
Where are we going?
Pardon my militaristic language, but to stay in the context of the alarm theme: To the Western Front, Powder Recruits! I'd pick an area for both days that has trees with upside potential, or at least an area with trees for Saturday, as it can rip here and there. Sunday looks similar to Smstag, so you should have trees up your sleeve here too. Important update: Sunday will probably not be a sunny day in the west after all, so you probably won't be able to go out high. The models no longer see this, it's supposed to snow through after all - as of Friday evening. Either the models already had that in this morning and I was blind, or it has changed. Since I'm infallible, it's the models' fault ;) I'll probably be there again to receive Ullr's gifts at the Temple of Wallis or France. Powder to the people! Your Oracle
