Anecdotal for certain, but these keep piling up. This from the UK Snowboard Club. – Anthony
Early snowfalls in Europe hit Historic Levels
Posted Wednesday 3rd December 2008, 2:15 pm by Dunx
- 20 year record snowfall in Dolomites enough to last all season
- Some Swiss train services cancelled due to excess snow
- Still more heavy snow in the Pyrenees
- More snow for Scotland
www.Skiinfo.com is following still more heavy snowfalls across Europe over the past 48 hours, with much more snow in other parts of Europe and many areas of North America too.
The snowfall has been so great that it has closed roads, brought down power lines and even led to the cancellation of some Swiss rail services this week.
One of the greatest beneficiaries are the Italian Dolomites where 150cm (five feet) has fallen at Cortina in a 48 hour period up to Monday, with snow still falling.
Alessandro Fregni of Skiinfo.com’s Italian office commented, “In three days ski areas have seen almost as much snowfall as for the whole winter last year.”
The snow has arrived with perfect timing for the ski resorts who are seeing a boom in ticket sales at a time of economic uncertainty. Alessandro believes the snow is enough to last all season and will also mean resorts can save money by not needing to use snow making equipment.
However the snow is causing practical problems for both locals and those wanting to reach the snow with almost every pass in to the Dolomites closed on Monday and many villages without electricity. However the situation will be resolved quickly once the snow stops falling.
It was a similar if slightly less dramatic picture to the north where competitors at the annual season opening Santa Claus World Championships in Samnaun had difficulty getting to and from the event as Swiss public transport in the area struggled to cope with heavy snowfall there.
On Monday rail services were cancelled in the area of Eastern Switzerland due to the snow. “We should have used their magic sleighs.” joked a bemused competitor after missing his flight home as a result.
Most other Swiss resorts have great cover and more new snow. Skiinfo issued powder alarms in the past week for Skiinfo with 70cm (28 inches) and Davos 53cm (17 inches) of fresh snow each. Many major resorts now have snow depths of 2-3 metres (7 – 10 feet).
In Austria the snow cover is also superb with Heiligenblut the biggest recipient of the week’s latest dump, receiving a metre (40 inches) of powder in the past seven days.
Many of the open French ski areas have reported at least a foot of new snow in the past week. Several have much more including Les Arcs, with 80cm (32 inches). New openings this weekend include Les Orres, Chamrousse, L e Grand Bornand, Isola 2000 and Montgenevre. Alpe D’Huez and Courchevel will be fully open and Megève partly open.
It looks like the ski areas in the Pyrenees and elsewhere in Spain which dominated snowfall news in November with record pre-season accumulations leading top early openings of ski areas in the region will continue in to December, as the snow keeps falling.
Baqueria Beret in the Pyranees.
A new cold front has brought still more fresh powder to Spain (Formigal and Sierra Nevada have both received 70 cm/28 inches more powder in the past week) all the ski resorts in Spain will open for a three day holiday weekend. For Spanish skiers and boarders the Purísima Feast on December 8 is a must every year and represents the official opening of the winter season.
On the French side of the range Cauterets opened last weekend with 80% of runs available on opening day and up to 150cm (five feet) of snow.
Elsewhere in Europe conditions continue to be very good in Scandinavian countries too. Norway’s Hemsedal currently has 65cm (over two feet) of snow on its slopes, with Bjorli registering the greatest snow depth at present with 100 cm (40 inches). The country’s ski areas have received up to 38cm (15 inches) of new snow in the last week with Skiimnfo.com issuing a powder alarm for Trysil, the largest resort in Norway. The snowfall makes it possible for Trysil to open more slopes and lifts for the upcoming weekend, said Jan Linstad, Trysil ski area’s manager.
In Eastern Europe it’s a more mixed picture with some warm temperatures limiting cover. However Slovenian areas are open and Bansko has opened in Bulgaria with largely machine made snow.
In Scotland The Lecht re-opened last week before closing for a second time in November as the snow thawed. However more snow fell yesterday (Tuesday, December 2), temperatures remain well below freezing and heavy snow is forecast for tomorrow, Thursday (December 4), raising hopes of a weekend re-opening.
In North America the picture has improved dramatically in Colorado, just as it did this time last year before a meteoric snowfall season in which several resorts set record snowfall figures after a warm November 2007. One of the best reports is from Vail which has had 63cm (25 inches) of snow in the past week. Nearby Copper Mountain has also been able to open its Superpipe, the first on the continent this season. Conditions are generally less good on the country’s West coast however with delayed openings or limited cover at many ski areas.
Further north it’s a mixed picture in Western Canada with Mount Washington announcing it will delay its opening due, planned for this Friday, December 5, due to lack of snow.
“We have patchy snow on the ground right now after some rainfall last weekend,” explains resort spokesperson Brent Curtain. “We need to see approximately one metre of snow on the ground before we can begin slope preparations for our opening day.”
Further north still however Alyeska in Alaska has opened with a huge five metre (200 inch) base, although temperatures were reported to be as low as a seriously chilly 8F at the ski area summit on Monday.
On the other side of the region one of the early openers, Marmot Basin in Alberta, which has already seen 89cm (three feet) of snow this winter, opening another five runs.
On North America’s East Coast most resorts are open and in the case of resorts in states like Maine and Vermont reporting “The best start to the season for years.” with a foot (30cm) or more of natural snowfall at most, topped up by the extensive snowmaking systems common in the area.
Further afield Japan has had its first taste of winter too. Grand Hirafu in Niseko opened on 22nd November with things not looking promising and very little snow in the village and just a light cover of snow on the top of the resort. True to its self-proclaimed status of “powder capital of the world” however, over a metre (40 inches) of snow then fell in just three days.
Visit www.skiinfo.com to sign up for powder alarms from your favourite resorts, check current snow conditions and projected snowfalls with snow finder as well as exchange news and views in the Skier’ Lounge.
Alas, but we are still snowless here in the Pacific NW. Last year was a bumper year for snow. With no snow this year our “progressive” governor is hinting at deficit financing so the state can proceed with its green agenda.
We are really cold in SWFL … It’s colder than it normally is in Feb. So far we don’t see any signs of glaciation, but it could come soon.
JP – Data from AccuWeather show that temperatures in Chicago since 11/1 have been 1.9 degrees below normal and for the last 30 days it has been averaging 5 degrees below normal. I know, it’s just weather and not climate.
To be fair and balanced, it looks like Moscow set their all-time warmest reading for December:
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081206/118727610.html
Latest weather from Pozan (10:00EST):
EPPO 081500Z 26004KT 4000 BR BKN020 04/04 Q1020
Seems fairly “normal.”
You gotta be kidding. One month’s weather is a climate trend?
This is as bad as climate science can get. You need not be a meteorolgist to know weather does not make climate.
But gee! it’s been really warm in Russia…so we have global warming!
Frankly this website is redundant, as AGW is an established fact that is widely supported by serious scientists.
~snip~
Snow in Wallowa County and up above Pendleton in the Blues. 11 inches so far at pass level. I drove 40 mph through “snowing hard and continuously” all the way from Minam to the Weston Hills (nearly 70 miles). Lots more above on the peaks. There is a prediction for snow in Pendleton this Friday night. That’s early for Pendleton, just like last year.
Carbonkiss,
Is the ocean warmer?
I can confirm that it’s freezing in Scotland. And my boiler is on the blink! Interesting about the ski runs opening – IIRC they stayed open later than they have done for years at the beginning of the year too.
I keep hearing from the AGW crowd that this year is exceptional, which is to say that it doesn’t matter in their eyes. They think the longer term trend is towards warming, which given the fact that we’re recovering slowly from the LIA does not surprise me and I do not disagree with it. Of course, they attribute the warming GHG and think it will go on indefinitely, despite the fact that CO2s warming effects are not linear but obey the law of diminishing returns. I suppose I am not doing anything more than rambling, but it just irritates me that so many people – who really by and large don’t care and just want to live their lives – are continually misinformed and unduly alarmed. I know none of this is anything new…still…it is aggravating.
Fred,
They may still be using temperature data from a couple of months ago. Better check the numbers. Plus, December is not over yet. Maybe it was a warm one in Moscow, but even if those numbers are spot on, I doubt it stays that way.
stophotair,
While I agree that anecdotal weather events do not make for global climate trends, I find this statement odd:
“You need not be a meteorolgist [sic] to know weather does not make climate.”
Is climate not the average of weather over time?
Poznan, PO forecast for Thursday:
Cold with periods of ice changing to snow. Winds from the SSW at 11 km/h.
Low: -4 C
Sounds nice if you are in front of a roaring fire.
mark @06:34:52
The UHI effect is underestimated by the noaa when they massage their data, as can be seen at the end of the note from their site:
stophotair,
One particular weather event does not make climate, but climate is made up of weather.
And the weather does not at all support the claims of looming climate apocalypse from the AGW community.
ah! of course….make sense….
the other day it was quite cold outside for us austinites (40 degrees?) and i was leaning against this wall which was painted black (yes black)….and it was WARM….as in 80 plus if i had to guess. it got me thinking about UHI effects.
woodfortrees:
Yay! 30 years! Just a few more and they’ll finally have HALF the approximately 70 year cycle!
Neville (00:20:56) :
I wonder how the delicate little fantasists are faring in Poznan at the moment?
Wouldn’t it be interesting if they experienced some really good cold weather with heavy falls of snow on their fantastic parade.”
Reply: Its not that cold in Poland but if its a bit of irony you are after, the bbc reporter Richard Black could not attend because his flight was canceled due to guess what? climate change protesters.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/
“Runway protest strands passengers”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/essex/7771079.stm
stophotair:
AGW is an established fact that is widely supported by serious scientists.
Errr, no, not really. In fact AGW is a failed hypothesis, propped up by bogus computer models, and supported by so-called scientists willing to do pseudo-science in order to keep grant money flowing, and their careers going. Add the politicians and the MSM who are on the bandwagon, and who are only too happy to keep the thing rolling along via their hype and propaganda, and voila. The whole thing is a house of cards which will eventually come crashing down, and is showing showing signs of it now.
Show us where anyone said one month’s weather is a climate trend. Or, prove that you’re just another AGW troll, and run along back to your troll cave.
Weather events may not be climate, but they do serve a purpose in forcing people to look at reality, not models. I have a friend on the IOC who genuinely felt that Austria was a poor candidate for the Winter Olympics because there will not be snow there much longer. I am please to see the big dump and transportation issues in Davos, because this person is travelling there this week.
When will the AGW crowd quit fraudulently spewing the lie that carbon dioxide is an air pollutant when in fact it is fertilizer for plants, it is non toxic, it is a requirement of all plant photosynthesis; that without it all plant life dies and it follows of course that all animal life too subsequently dies? This lie, perpetuated by the Al Gores of the world, has absolutely no truth to it.
Unfortunately they have succeeded in brain washing a whole generation of our youth that CO2 is a terrible, toxic gas that is making our planet warmer when the evidence is growing that it is a very minor GHG and has little or no green house gas effect.
I’m tempted to agree that “weather does not make climate.” It’s unproven climate models and baseless data ajustments that make up what some call “climate. “
A fine antidote to all the everything-is-melting stories.
Here in Western NY the ski resorts opened about a week early after receiving several feet of lake effect snow — and it keeps on snowing, at least in the higher terrain. And they haven’t had to crank up the snow making machinery.
I’m dreaming of a cold winter,
just like the ones we used to know…..
Maybe that PDO shift is taking us back to the 70’s – this is more like winters i remember from my teens.
Fred said:
And were those readings taken with thermometers that were affected by UHI?