Huge Amounts of Autumn Snow Falling in Eastern Alps
12th September 2024
Last modified on September 14th, 2024
It comes as a handful of glacier ski resorts are preparing to open some slopes in the next few weeks. UPDATED
More early season snow is falling in the Alps and will continue into the weekend.
The Austrian Alps could see more than a meter of snow over 2,000m by the end of the weekend.
Summer 14-09-24 🤔 #Obertauern right now. Photocredit Winfried Veil @winfriedveil pic.twitter.com/WsY2iA50n3
— Johanns (Alpen)weer (@Alpenweerman) September 14, 2024
❄️ Dans les Alpes autrichiennes, on atteint parfois un mètre de neige comme ici à Obertauern vers 1700 mètres ! En plaine, des inondations commencent à apparaître. 🌧️ (© Andis Skihotel) pic.twitter.com/9gjlqRVzt8
— Météo Express (@MeteoExpress) September 14, 2024
One of the latest videos of the snowfall posted comes from Innsbruck:
Already looking like winter wonderland mode at Nordkette above Innsbruck ☃️👀 pic.twitter.com/hwigsddaIf
— Innsbruck Tourism (@InnsbruckTVB) September 13, 2024
Austria is seeing some intense snow and rain, with warnings of avalanches and flooding.
Austrian storm warning centre UWZ says that in some areas, previous records for the entire month of September will be “surpassed in just a few days”.
Manuel Kelemen, a forecaster for Puls24 TV, said “what we’re experiencing is extraordinary, if not unprecedented”.
The Austrian railway network OEBB has advised all passengers to postpone non-urgent journeys.
Part of the Tauern railway line between Bad Hofgastein and Böckstein in the province of Salzburg has been closed because of heavy snowfall.
Flooding and landslides are possible, with gale force winds expected in the capital, Vienna.
There are many road and rail closures, with some public events cancelled.
Near to Innsbruck is the ski area of Stubai.
In the western Alps there has been much less snow with only a dusting in places.
The resorts in the Alps have been offering skiing across the summer when conditions have allowed and are set to benefit from the new snow once they can prepare the slopes and make them safe.
There are four areas currently open:
- Zermatt, Switzerland
- Saas-Fee, Switzerland
- Hintertux, Austria
- Passo Stelvio, Italy.
The glacier above Zermatt can also be reached from Cervinia in Italy
There are potentially ‘record-breaking’ falls for September in the east of the Alps.
“This comes courtesy of a surge of cold polar air interacting with a very warm Mediterranean sea, spawning a powerful storm that is now drifting northwards and will continue to affect the eastern Alps well into the weekend,” said Fraser Wilkin from weathertoski.co.uk. on Friday 13th September.
“Although occasional (mostly) high-altitude snowfalls are nothing unusual in September, this degree of storm is not something we have seen this early for many years and it will probably end up dumping record snowfalls (for the time of year) across some parts of Austria.
“Some higher parts of Austria have indeed already seen over 1m of new snow, with lots more to come over the next few days.
“The rain/snow limit has also become a significant talking point, falling to well below 1000m in the northern Austrian Alps.
“Many other Alpine regions have also seen significant snow at altitude, but it is mostly in Austria where the early winter onslaught appears unusually severe.”
In Italy a 56-year-old Canadian woman has died in the Dolomites after she was caught in the snowstorm last Thursday.
The woman was climbing with a 56-year-old male companion.
He is suffering from severe hypothermia.
They called the Italian Alpine Rescue Corps for help after being hit by the snowstorm about two kilometres from a mountain refuge.
Several Austrian resorts including Pitztal and Kaunertal are set to open at the end of September and beginning of October as we reported earlier on PlanetSKI:
Pitztal:
Kaunertal:
Verbier:
Murren:
It snowed down to Mürren today ❄️❄️#murren #mürren #jungfrauregion #swissalps #switzerland #snowhour pic.twitter.com/XtwhnParSa
— Mürren Lover (@Murrenlover) September 13, 2024
Other resorts in Europe preparing to open are Levi and Ruka in Finland.
Ruka:
Norway’s Galdhøpiggen glacier is also waiting for cooler conditions before reopening.
There’s also been snow in the Pyrenees.
-4 degrés à 2800m ce matin ❄️👉☀️ le soleil revient aujourd’hui 📷 @elee_65 pic.twitter.com/qk0Pa6Mecp
— Météo Pyrénées (@Meteo_Pyrenees) September 13, 2024
Winter is also making an appearance across the Pond with snow falling in the USA and Canada.
A-Basin and Loveland in Colorado are usually the first to open decent amounts of terrain.
Loveland:
Arapahoe Basin:
In Colorado Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Crested Butte have all released their proposed opening dates for the 2024-2025 season.
- Keystone: Mid-October
- Breckenridge: November 8th
- Vail: November 15th
- Beaver Creek and Crested Butte: November 27th
Jackson Hole in Wyoming has announced that next season will run from November 29th, 2024 to April 13, 2025, offering 137 days of skiing and snowboarding.
And there’s been some snow in the mountains closer home with snow falling in Scotland.
The Cairngorms, Glencoe and Lochaber have been among upland areas to see wintry showers and a dusting of snow.
Glencoe:
Of course most of it will make little difference to the approaching ski season but it will help the glacier areas in the Alps that plan to open shortly and of course it gets us all in the mood for winter and the approaching ski season.
Do check back for the latest updates…
