Early season snow is really good here in contrast to reports from elsewhere. Pistes have good cover and most runs are open.
Oh, and the sun is shining too!
Conditions in Grandvalira 2014-2015
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:shock: :shock: :shock:
That seems to be exactly what the problem is in most of the other European resorts -)
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Started by Brucie in Andorra 13-Dec-2014 - 42 Replies
Brucie posted Dec-2014
"Better to remain reticent and have people think one is an idiot, than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt"
Far Queue
reply to 'Conditions in Grandvalira 2014-2015' posted Dec-2014
Brucie wrote:Oh, and the sun is shining too!
:shock: :shock: :shock:
That seems to be exactly what the problem is in most of the other European resorts -)
SwingBeep
reply to 'Conditions in Grandvalira 2014-2015' posted Dec-2014
The sun is too low in the sky at this time of the year to be a problem. The problem at the moment is caused by a strong south-westerly airflow blowing over the Alps causing a foehn effect.
A foehn results from the ascent of moist air up the windward slopes; as this air climbs, it expands and cools until it becomes saturated with water vapour, after which it cools more slowly because its moisture is condensing as rain or snow, releasing latent heat. By the time it reaches the peaks and stops climbing, the air is quite dry. The ridges of the mountains are usually obscured by a bank of clouds known as a foehn wall, which marks the upper limit of precipitation on the windward slopes. As the air makes its leeward descent, it is compressed and warms rapidly all the way downslope because there is little water left to evaporate and absorb heat; thus, the air is warmer and drier when it reaches the foot of the leeward slope than when it begins its windward ascent.
Today the temperature in Chamonix (1035m) on the north side of the main alpine ridge reached 8°C, where I live at 700m it reached almost 12°C.
A foehn results from the ascent of moist air up the windward slopes; as this air climbs, it expands and cools until it becomes saturated with water vapour, after which it cools more slowly because its moisture is condensing as rain or snow, releasing latent heat. By the time it reaches the peaks and stops climbing, the air is quite dry. The ridges of the mountains are usually obscured by a bank of clouds known as a foehn wall, which marks the upper limit of precipitation on the windward slopes. As the air makes its leeward descent, it is compressed and warms rapidly all the way downslope because there is little water left to evaporate and absorb heat; thus, the air is warmer and drier when it reaches the foot of the leeward slope than when it begins its windward ascent.
Today the temperature in Chamonix (1035m) on the north side of the main alpine ridge reached 8°C, where I live at 700m it reached almost 12°C.
Brucie
reply to 'Conditions in Grandvalira 2014-2015' posted Dec-2014
-3 tonight. Clouds gathering.
"Better to remain reticent and have people think one is an idiot, than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt"
Brucie
reply to 'Conditions in Grandvalira 2014-2015' posted Dec-2014
Good news and Bad news from Soldeu today.
Bad News - Visibility was pretty poor up the mountain today.
Good News - Bad visibility was caused by SNOW!!! :D
Bad News - Visibility was pretty poor up the mountain today.
Good News - Bad visibility was caused by SNOW!!! :D
"Better to remain reticent and have people think one is an idiot, than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt"
Verbier_ski_bum
reply to 'Conditions in Grandvalira 2014-2015' posted Dec-2014
Not another season of constant foehn, please! But seriously, it seems like seasons switched places - summer was cold and very wet and now we have warm and dry winter. Even when it rains (like yesterday) it's not the rain that is likely to last longer than a few hours, unlike last summer when it wouldn't stop for days...
Brucie
reply to 'Conditions in Grandvalira 2014-2015' posted Dec-2014
Fail to see the relevance of the foehn comments.
Snowing heavily this evening and looks like a powder day tomorrow!
Snowing heavily this evening and looks like a powder day tomorrow!
"Better to remain reticent and have people think one is an idiot, than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt"
Edited 1 time. Last update at 16-Dec-2014
Brucie
reply to 'Conditions in Grandvalira 2014-2015' posted Dec-2014
Couple of good snow days but rain here on Thursday too. Looks like a few days of spring like skiing before temps drop again.
"Better to remain reticent and have people think one is an idiot, than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt"
Topic last updated on 25-September-2015 at 17:54