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PowderAlert 19 2016/17 | The last of its kind

It snows a lot and almost everywhere.

by Lars Oelmann 04/24/2017
There will be alerts everywhere, with the focus in the south. The core areas are from Ticino to the Adamello/Upper Engadine and in the border triangle of Italy/Austria/Slovenia, although the whole thing is only likely to cause real joy on the glaciers there.

And yes, you really can. And almost all over the Alps. There will be alerts everywhere, with the focus in the south. The core areas are from Ticino to the Adamello/Upper Engadine and in the border triangle of Italy/Austria/Slovenia, although the whole thing should only really cause joy on the glaciers there.

The situation is more difficult in the north, because it's not entirely clear how much of it will arrive and whether it will be anywhere near as good as last week. In the northeast, last week will certainly not be topped.

The period lasts until Friday evening, because then everything is through.

Snowfall limit:

It's late in the spring and we have mainly südstau, so the largest amounts will fall in the areas with a higher limit. In Ticino and on the Simplon - in the western corner - it will probably snow somewhere between 1400 and 1700m at the beginning, i.e. tonight until Wednesday morning. It will then gradually rise to the east, so that Slovenia will probably not see any usable snow below 2500m. In the north, the snow line will initially be between 1200 and 1600m, but will quickly drop to 1000m or lower. The full amounts should come from 1500m. It will also drop in the western south, while it will remain very high in the east for a very long time. The full amounts will come from 1800m-2000m in the west and only from around 2400-2600m in the east, which is unlikely to be suitable for powder there. In France, the values of the Northern Alps apply from north to south, as the cold air there comes far to the south.

The wind:

Winds initially quite stormy from the southwest, then turns to the north as the system moves through and actually becomes quite powder-friendly from Wednesday except for the southeast of the Alps.

The amounts:

Let's start with the northern Alps and France: From France to northeastern Austria, 25-50cm can come, in the northern core from northern Tyrol to central Switzerland it may also be 40-60cm possibly up to 70cm. Which could be quite fun again with the temperatures there based on last week.

Let's now move from Ullr's amateur upper league to the national league of the southern thaw. From Monte Rosa all the way to Slovenia, 50-70 cm of snow is falling. In the western core zone from Ticino to the Upper Engadine/Adamello it will probably be 80-120cm, although I also see potential for 150cm in the Upper Engadine. Despite the amount of fresh snow, the snowpack will probably not increase by more than 60-100cm in three days. There was little to nothing there before, so that's sorely needed.

In the south-east, Ullr apparently wants to be in the Champions League as far as precipitation is concerned, but unfortunately only in the district league in terms of snow line (see above). The models are quite unanimous in their precipitation samok and at the highest altitudes of the southeast, 120-200cm of fresh snow will probably fall quite safely, although some are also leaving the tap open and I don't want to rule out 300mm of precipitation. But whether that will really be 3m+ of fresh snow is questionable. Due to the warmth, I don't see the snowpack on the glaciers increasing by more than 80-130cm, or 180cm if 3m actually falls, which would still be huge.

In the Hohe Tauern, there should still be quite a lot thanks to the cold air in the north, but it should snow much deeper. So the amounts and the snow line will be somewhere between north and south.

Where should I go?

In the south-east, it's easy. Everything except glaciers on Saturday is nonsense. In the western south, you can possibly go into the trees of your choice above 1600-1700m on Thursday with the second wave and count on it breaking open at the top on Friday. With the amount of new snow, the danger level should still be very unpleasant until Sunday despite spring, but that's what the bulletins are for, not me.

Saturday will also be sunny in the north, while it will snow there more or less from Wednesday onwards. Trees may possibly go in areas with a base from last week on Friday, but it's not really snowing an exhilarating amount per day.

I wish everyone a great last week and say goodbye to the summer break.

Powder to the people!

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