14th March 2023
Parts of the French Alps that barely saw any snow for 2 months have been hit by another storm. Snow is falling elsewhere as the weather remains unsettled, but there is avalanche danger off piste. NEW
Tuesday 14th March
Further snow is falling in parts of the Alps with some very unsettled weather.
“Very very wet snow in Meribel centre today but amazing powder higher up,” said PlanetSKI reader, Jo Vizard.
“There is linimted visibility higher up at about 50m, but the snow being good makes up for it,” Jo added.
Meribel, France. Image © PlanetSKI
Meribel, France. Image © PlanetSKI
PlanetSKI’s chief reporter, Jane Peel, is in nearby Les Arcs in the Paradiski area in France.
“The snow has returned to Peisey Vallandry at 1600m (Les Arcs ski area) Tuesday morning after rain and thunderstorms overnight,” said Jane Peel.
Les Arcs, France. Image © PlanetSKI
Les Arcs, France. Image © PlanetSKI
“Most of the highest lifts have been closed today but it’s been a generally excellent morning skiing around Peisey-Vallandry, Arc 1800 and Arc 1600,” added Jane.
“There’s been a good 20 to 30cm of fresh snow overnight and we had some fabulous turns on untouched pistes first thing.”
Les Arcs, France. Image © PlanetSKI
“The snow continued to come down throughout the morning, though it was a bit wet – the temperature at 11am at 1800m was 0 degrees Celsius.
“In the low cloud, poor visibility was an issue but there are plenty of tree runs to enjoy.
“The forecast is for sunshine and colder temperatures on Wednesday so there should be some excellent conditions.”
The fresh snow has brought considerable risk of avalanche off piste.
Avalanche danger in Les Arcs. Image © PlanetSKI
There have been a number of fatalities in Switzerland.
See here for further details:
Verbier, Switzerland.
Winter is back in Austria too:
And Italy:
More to follow…
Monday 13th March
Temperatures have warmed up in the Alps after the recent snow.
In places the freezing level has risen to 3,000m though it is set to fall again later in the week.
More snow is also in the forecast for overnight and into Tuesday in the western Alps including France, Switzerland and parts of Austria.
The freezing level should be around 1,000m.
The is a Level 3 warning across parts of the Swiss Alps with “Considerable avalanche danger over a wide area” according to the Swiss Institute for Avalanche Research.
Avalanche danger levels in Switzerland
In Verbier one of our readers, Sparky, has send this image of an avalanche near Col de Gentianes which is a good example of how unstable the snowpack is in places.
Verbier, Switzerland.
There were no reports of any injuries.
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This article was originally published by Planetski.eu. Read the original article here.
