Jetstream GFS 3rd Jan Source Netweather.tv
The weather in the Alps appears to be entering another unsettled spell for quite a while
Unlike recent seasons when the Jetstream stayed either North or South of the Alps, the Jet Stream seems to be running across Central Europe and is forecast to stay that way for as far as we can see.
This means that we can expect a sustained spell of unsettled weather. The first half of January now looks like a repeat of Mid December with a series of storms and frequent snowfall. This will be interspersed with occasional sunshine. So this looks good for powder days in January. As far as we can see, this continues until at least 12th January and maybe for longer.
Following on from a very snowy mid-December this will create excellent above average snow depths that will last the whole season in high altitude resorts. if you are in resort then you will get some amazing powder days in between the snowfalls and maybe a few powder days in the trees during the snowfalls.
Keep an eye on the avalanche bulletins and our snow reports for details on how the risks evolve and how the snowpack changes. What we can see at the moment is that the south facing slopes experienced recent warming even at high altitudes up to 2800m. As the temperatures drop this stabilised these slopes. But the weak layer persists above 2300m on North facing slopes, so further buildups of snow on these slopes could be very unstable.
As new snow falls the composition of the snowpack changes and you have to track the bulletins every day.
Snow Forecast Val d’Isere from Meteoblue issued 27th December 2017
We will keep you updated. Looking good, so if you have not booked your January trip and you can find the time and money, then it is looking promising. We have not yet spotted when the weather will settle down, this looks unlikely before 12th January.
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