Up To 1.5m (5 Feet) Of Snowfall in the Alps
Up To 1.5m (5 Feet) Of Snowfall in the Alps
Published : 13-Mar-2023 06:58
Base depths on high slopes in the Western Alps have seen their biggest jumps of the season, many adding about a third to their snowpack volumes in 48 hours over the weekend.
Up to 1.5m (five feet) of snowfall was reported above 3,000m altitude. It's good timing for the centres that have had a major springtime snow boost for the final weeks and months of the season.
But it's also a mixed picture, there were much smaller falls below 2,000m altitude where what snow there has been was mostly heavy and wet with lowest slopes getting rain for periods. The avalanche danger in the areas getting the most snow has also risen to 4 (high) or 3 (considerable) in the scale to 5.
The area impacted was also limited to the western and northern Alps with southern and eastern area receiving little or nothing, although less intense snowy weather is expected to continue across the Alps on and off through the coming week.
Cervinia has claimed the biggest accumulation at 1.5 metres although base depths are only marked as up by 40cm over the weekend. Saas Fee, on the other hand, reports its upper slope base up by 1.2m (4 feet) over the weekend to 3m – hopefully good news for summer glacier training later in the year if the snowpack survives the summer sun.
Zermatt, which has had no snow in resort for months reports 50cm lying now, The resort was cut off for much of Saturday after an overnight avalanche blocked the trainline.
The deepest reported snow is at Tignes where the base depth has risen to 3.7 metres, up a metre on last Thursday, having been on 2.7 metres for several months beforehand.
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