Alagna Snow Report

High pressure has dominated the past week, leaving conditions fine and dry but with a distinct lack of snow and a freezing line dropping below 1,000m in many areas leaving resort bases in some lower locations with positive temperatures, affecting snow quality and the initially good snowpack from November and early December.

The jet stream will begin to change direction over the coming days, with the nordstau event over Austria ending and instead offering a direct west-to-east pattern over the Atlantic. This will bring an area of low pressure towards Europe, which, whilst expecting to stall and fade by the end of the week in the Bay of Biscay, will still blow some precipitation onto the Alps.

The Lombardy Alps will benefit most from this, with nearly a foot expected over Christmas Eve and into Christmas Day. Further east, the Dolomites will see a covering of snow on higher slopes, as the nordstau event over Austria comes to an end, although lower terrain will struggle. To the west, the Piedmontese Alps and Aosta Valley will benefit from this new weather system, with Courmayeur and La Thuile seeing the highest expect snowfall for this weekend of the entire Alps.

Extended Forecast: This change in jet stream direction is expected to continue throughout the last week in December, bringing significant precipitation off the Atlantic. This may bring steady snow over this period.