Snow is Falling at Altitude in the Alps
7th October 2026
The first major storm of autumn is starting in the Alps with snow set to fall through to Thursday. It will be welcome on the glacier areas already open. NEW
It is currently rain in many places with the freezing level at around 3,000m.
The Haute-Alps, Savoie and Isere in France are warming of “significant precipitation”.
“It will remain heaviest in the western and north-western Alps where 20-40cm of snow is possible above 3000m, including on the (not yet open) glaciers of Les 2 Alpes and Tignes,” said Fraser Wilkin from weathertoski.co.uk.
“More generally at high altitude across the Alps there will be falls of 5-20cm of new snow, although some far southern and south-eastern areas (e.g. the Dolomites) may see next to nothing.
“With colder air digging in on Thursday the rain/snow limit will also descend, reaching 1500-2000m in most places by the end of the day – first in the north-west, and lastly further south-east.”
Keep an eye on weathertoski.co.uk for updates.
We previewed the storm in this earlier PlanetSKI article:
Snow in October is to be expected and it will have no bearing on the coming winter, but it will give the currently open glaciers areas a much-needed top up.
- Hintertux, Austria
- Pitztal, Austria
- Saas-Fee, Switzerland
- Val Senales, Italy
- Passo Stelvio, Italy
Saas-Fee in Switzerland re-opens. Image c/o Saas-Fee web camera.
The fresh snow will be welcome by more ski areas opening this coming weekend.
Engelberg is set to open part of its glacier area on Saturday, October 10th
Soelden is planning to open this Friday, October 9th.
With Kitzsteinhorn opening October 10th.
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Zermatt/Cervinia, Kaunertal and Soelden remain closed.
In Finland Levi and Ruka are open using snow stored from last winter.
In North America the first significant snow is set to fall this weekend.
A cold front in forming in the Northern Rockies and snow is forecast for this weekend.
Snow is expected to fall in Alberta in Canada with Sunshine Village, Lake Louise and Marmot Basin predicted to see snow.
One report says 40cm may fall in Marmot Basin near Jasper with Sunshine Village near Banff seeing 25cm.
None of the resorts is currently open.
There is likely to be more modest falls in the USA with Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Colorado seeing their first snow of the approaching winter.
Do check back for updates…
Winter may still be some way off, but it is getting closer by the day and our posts on PlanetSKI are already turning to the season of 2026/27.
Ski resorts & companies are also releasing news for the coming winter:
- Innsbruck’s 26/27 Ski Plust City Pass
- What’s new in Verbier for next winter?
- See what’s new at Alpine Fleet for next winter
- Interest in complimentary ski guiding from VIP SKI rises
- Inghams Ski expands ski programme for next winter
- VIP SKI aims to boost skier’s confidence
- Austria looks forward to next winter
- Iglu Ski unveils what’s new for next winter
- Luxury Chalet Company reveals what’s new for next winter
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