© Giles Towler
Fresh snow in Morzine, with more on the way
After some very cold days, the snow has returned to Morzine
While Britain is getting battered by storms, the same weather systems have brought fresh snow to Europe. In the past 24 hours there has been approximately 10 to 15 centimetres of fresh snow throughout the Portes du Soleil, with more forecast for the next week.
Conditions on piste have been very good recently and the February crowds have not had too adverse an effect on the snow. There is one week left of the European school holidays but the crowds have dropped off significantly in the past week. The pistes had been slightly icy in places but the fresh snowfall has made things significantly better. The conditions off-piste have also been improved by the recent snow, although it is probably better to wait for the further snowfall that is currently forecast.
The Mont Chery bubble stopped working briefly on Thursday but this was only a short-term problem and it is now running smoothly. Other than that, the entire Portes du Soleil is open at the moment. The only thing that could cause a problem would be if the wind picks up over the next few days but the forecast at the moment suggests that there will only be a light breeze for the duration of the coming week.
At the moment the weather is overcast, with snowfall forecast for the afternoon and the entire weekend. Conditions on the roads have been very bad for the last 24 hours and, with the extra snowfall over the weekend, things could get very chaotic for transfers to and from resort. There have been a large number of cancellations and delays for flights into and out of Geneva, so anyone travelling to or from Morzine should check for updates on their flights and transfers. The roads are being cleared regularly although sudden heavy snowfall will undoubtedly cause traffic to grind to a halt once again. There were huge traffic jams going to Geneva yesterday, with some people taking over three hours to get to the airport.
The base layer in Morzine has been good since December due to the heavy early season snowfall but a top up was needed to get things back to the excellent condition they had been in. There had not been any heavy snowfall during January and February and any snow that had fallen was offset by the rain that seemed to just keep coming, but it looks as though March is going to be much better. Snow is expected to fall for almost the entirety of the coming week, with very little sunshine. At the moment Thursday afternoon looks as though it will be the only time of the week when there will be any sunshine.
With visibility being poor for the next few days the best places to ski is anywhere where there are trees and slightly better visibility. Up the Arare and Fornet there probably won’t be much visibility at all. If the weather gets worse they are the two areas that are most likely to close, although at the moment they are still open.
The temperatures have risen slightly from the past week and it looks as though there won’t be any more days of -20ºC weather for this week. The temperature is forecast to stay around 0ºC to -4ºC, rarely heading into plus figures. At the moment, it looks as though March is going to get off to a perfect start with the amount of snow forecast for the coming week. Following a couple of months where conditions were good but not ideal, things could be about to get back to the incredible conditions of December.
The base layer is still around 2m at the lower levels of the resorts and over 3.5m at the highest points of Avoriaz. The snow should last for quite a while now but the top-up that is currently expected will mean there is fresh powder for everyone to enjoy as well as perfectly groomed pistes throughout the entire Portes du Soleil.
