J2Ski Snow Report - January 26th 2023
J2Ski Snow Report - January 26th 2023
Published : 26-Jan-2023 08:01
J2Ski Snow Report January 26th 2023
These views from Hintertux pretty much captures conditions there today; sunny, cold and snow.
Snow, Sun, and cold in Europe, USA and Japan...
The Snow Headlines - 26th January
- Remaining cold in much of Europe, with temperatures freezing or below to low levels.
- After months of storms in US West, more snowfall at last for East coast instead.
- Heavy snowfall in southern Alps – up to 70cm reported fresh this week.
- The Scottish Highlands go from coldest to warmest place in the UK.
- Improved conditions in the Pyrenees thanks to cold and snow - terrain reopened.
- Staying cold and snowy in The Balkans where conditions continue to improve.
- Very cold weather and heavy snowfall in Japan.
- Dave Ryding takes a 2nd in the WC Hahnenkamm Slalom.
Useful snow in many areas, and Japan getting hosed...
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World Overview
Conditions are really very good now for much of the Alps as we near a fortnight since 'the change' that saw cold air move in, and remain in place since, along with heavy snowfall at the start of last week.
It's been generally drier and sunnier this last week but going into the weekend there were snow showers in Austria and the start of this week saw up to 60cm of fresh snow reported in the southern Alps, heaviest on the French/Italian border.
Elsewhere in Europe conditions are similarly much improved in the Pyrenees and Balkans thanks to cold and snow there too and remain good in Scandinavia. Scotland has seen warm weather after last week's snow but some terrain has survived.
In North America, the seemingly endless stream of snowstorms in the west has finally taken a break but the East Coast now is getting the cold and snowy weather it has been waiting for all season.
Elsewhere in the skiing world, a very cold front is hitting Japan bringing heavy snowfall, there's also been more snow reported in the Atlas mountains of North Africa and ski centres have opened for the season in Israel and Lebanon following colder, snowier weather there too.
Europe
Austria
Different parts of Austria have had snowfall at different times this past week.
After last week's heavy snow eased off in the western Alps it kept snowing into the weekend in the Tirol and across northern Austria, with Kitzbuhel reporting 20cm of fresh on Saturday morning for the famous Hahnenkamm race.
The snowfall focus then turned to southern Austria with Nassfeld and Schladming posting 30cm accumulations on Tuesday.
The country continues to see snow showers in different areas but low temperatures everywhere and more consistently cold weather is forecast to return early next week.
France
French resorts have again posted some of the biggest snowfalls in the alps over the last week. This time though it was mostly southerly areas – especially resorts like Bonneval and Isola 2000, posting 30-50cm totals by Tuesday while Montgenevre reported over two feet (60cm) of fresh snow.
Generally conditions much improved on only two weeks ago with most areas fully open now and fresh snow cover. Remaining very cold, with highs around -1C for most areas but into the minus 20s up high.
Italy
Italy has seen some of the best of the recent snowfalls this week with snow depths at one of the country's biggest areas, the Milky Way (Sauze d'Oulx, Sestriere et al) doubling at the base and tripling on higher slopes with a 60cm (to foot) jump since the weekend.
Further east there was fresh snow too at lots of centres across the country and the Dolomites, which avoided the rainy warm spell to a large extent a month ago are reported to be in excellent shape.
Switzerland
It's been a mostly cold and dry week across Swiss ski slopes, with temperatures dipping into the -20s at a time up high and staying below freezing down in mountain valleys too.
Most of the country's resorts are open now with the 4 Valleys around Verbier posting 90% of its terrain now open.
Bases are a little thinner over in the east of the country but still adequate and there are fresh snowfalls forecast next week after a mostly sunny weekend ahead.
Scandinavia
Fairly good conditions across much of Scandinavia with snow depths reaching 1.8 metres (six feet) around Voss on the west coast and big resorts like Are, Hemsedal and Trysil all reporting they are more or less fully open with cold weather and more snow showers. Daylight hours are also starting to increase quickly, making a big difference in northerly latitude areas in Lapland.
Spring ski centre Riksgransen's 2023 season is now just a month away.
Pyrenees
It's a much-improved picture in the Pyrenees, as for the Alps.
There's been a good bit of fresh snowfall and with cold weather too, the big ski areas that had dropped to only having about half their runs open, are back up to 70-80%. Grandvalira which incorporates Pas de la Casa and Soldeu has 180km of its 240km of slopes skiable and Spain's biggest Baqueira/Beret is back up to about 75% of its runs open.
Scotland
Scottish ski areas had very cold and snowy weather last week, but then temperatures rose on Sunday to be the warmest in the British Isles. That's impacted the snowpack with The Lecht, which was closed last Thursday/Friday with access roads blocked by drifting snow, to only being able to open a few short runs a week later for lack of snow.
But all five centres remain open, most with more runs than The Lecht, the Cairngorm funicular has reopened after four years closed, and the weather is getting colder and snowier again.
Eastern Europe
Good news from eastern Europe with low temperatures and frequent snow showers continuing to rapidly improve what was a very lacklustre start to the season there. Bansko, Borovets and others have gone from almost nothing open a fortnight ago to more than 50% of their terrain now, and further north in Slovakia, Jasna, which had had about half its runs open, is close to 100% operational after snowfall there.
North America
Canada
Canada has had a fairly quiet week with low temperatures and occasional snow storms. The biggest difference really is in the East – Ontario and Quebec – where it's now consistently cold and keeps snowing, which is good news after warm weather in December and earlier this month prevented many areas from opening much.
In the west, everything is open, including North America's biggest ski area, Whistler Blackcomb, which is 100% open for the first time this season. It's also hit the 2-metre base mark on its upper runs.
USA
There's been a change after weeks of mega-storms hitting the pacific coast and often warm and wet weather in the East. Essentially it's the storms now hitting New England and much drier and sunnier in the west, allowing centres there to finally take stock and re-open terrain buried by metres of snow (all of the world's deepest snow stats are in the Rockies or US West Coast with Mammoth posting 6.6 metres (22 feet), the most of all, lying up top.
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