Fresh Snow Falling in French Alps is First For 50 Days
Fresh Snow Falling in French Alps is First For 50 Days
Published : 05-Jan-2017 07:26
There's been fresh snow in the French Alps overnight and the snow is still falling.
It's the first significant snowfall at most French ski areas for 50 days.
It follows earlier accumulations of 30-40cm in the Eastern Alps and Austria where it is still snowing more heavily with some resorts posting accumulations of 20-30cm more overnight.
Parts of Switzerland have reported similar snowfalls and Germany's Zugspitz says it has had 35cm of snow in the last 24 hours.
Most resorts in the Alps are now posting snowfall pictures and live video on social media but figures on snowfall accumulation are only just starting to be published, however forecasters expect 30-40cm for many resorts by the end of tomorrow, and possibly much more over the coming week, although longer term forecasts are more likely to prove inaccurate, although they may prove correct. The images in this report are from Val Thorens this morning.
Although the snow is the first fresh snow since the first half of November, most of France's major resorts had still had most of their terrain open through December thanks to large pre-season snowfalls in early November, which had allowed several to open early fort the 2016-17 ski season, and subsequent snowmaking.
Some lower traditional resorts like Megeve and Morzine had struggled with very thin snow cover down at resort level however.
Although most French resorts have had no more than a dusting of snow for the past 50 days, a few including Bonneval Sur Arc and Val Cenis received 20-40cm of fresh snow in the week before Christmas.
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