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Heavy snow fall in the northwestern Alps

At the start of the week a front provides periodic snowfall on the northwest and north side of the Alps. At the same time the Alps lie deep in intense cold air. At 2000 meters it can easily freeze at 10 degrees during the day. At 3000 meters the mercury does not exceed -20 degrees C. The strong wind makes it even colder.

It is snowing persistently light, in the French and Swiss high alps at times moderate to strong. I expect on average between 5 and 15 cm. In the northern Savoie and the western Bernese and Glarus Alps 20 to 30cm. T

The weather is somewhat friendlier on the south side. Here the air flows dry over the main ridge into the valleys. For this geographic side, this means Hohn clearings. There is quite a bit of wind!

Temperatures are on the rise around the middle of the week. The Azores high moves a bit more towards southwestern Europe. On the northern flank of the high-pressure area, a portion of softer air flows into western and central Europe. This will eventually lead to a somewhat higher snowfall limit. About 1800 meters. This also means some rain for the lower lying areas. In the Inner Alpines the cold heavier air can maintain itself locally. The snowfall limit is probably somewhat lower in these areas. During the front passages, precipitation also reaches the south side of the Alps this time.

Towards Friday, the storm in the mountains will likely increase even further. Snowfall is persistent and intense, with the snowfall line dropiing below 1500m again. Also on Saturday and Sunday ¨.wet and stormy, especially in the north

All in all, we can easily expect a meter of snow on the northwest side until the weekend. In the northern Savoie maybe even 1.5 meters. Trois Vallees and Espace Killy are expecting 1.6m to 1.8m.

White Christmas in the Alps

The weather in the Alps is currently calm with fairly high temperatures, but that is about to change. On Thursday the wind will turn north to northwest, making it considerably colder. It will snow especially on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Extremely mild
Little spectacular happens until Christmas. It remains calm, very mild and largely dry. Most of the rainfall is likely to pass just north of the Alps. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the wind originates from the southwest, making it mild in the Alps. It only freezes above 2000 meters and in the valleys the temperatures reach 4-8 degrees. The freezing level can reach a value of 3000 meters. Fortunately, this mild phase will be limited to Wednesday, as the next storm from the northwest is approaching on Wednesday afternoon and this will result in a sharp drop in temperature.

Fresh snow during Christmas
On Thursday a north-westerly current is in place and the chance of precipitation on the north side of the Alps will increase. The snowfall concentrates on the northwestern and northern Stau slopes. Initially it falls below 2000 meters in the form of rain, in the course of the morning the snow line will drop to about 1300 meters. The first snow fall is therefore limited to around 10cm at best. Thursday afternoon, the intensity of the snowfall temporarily diminishes and it can become dry in many places. A second front soon follows with more precipitation and another batch of cold air. Another 20 to 40 centimeters of snow can fall locally in the French Northern Alps Switzerland, and Vorarlberg.

On Christmas Eve the snow line drops below 1000 meters. Most of the snow fall in eastern Switzerland and Tyrol. On Christmas Day it is clearly colder than previous days with a freezing level below 500 meters and at 2000 meters it freezes moderately in most places. Partly because of this, a lot of snow falls on the north and northwest side of the Alps into the valleys. In total, more than 25 centimeters falls in many places and 45 to 60 centimeters is possible locally, e.g. in Ski Arlberg, Tignes and Chamonix valley.

After a cold night with regionally severe frost, Boxing Day promises to be a beautiful winter day! It remains almost dry and the sun shines in many places. Since it is cold enough, the snow will remain.

After Christmas it will remain winter for the time being, but no large amounts of snow will fall at first. At the beginning of next week, the chances of snow will increase, especially on the south side of the Alps. In that case, the snow line will be higher than during Christmas.

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