Where is all the snow?

jonesmski wrote:10 days to potential extreme disappointment for me. Would Crystal just ship us in and say tough if the resort and neighbouring alternatives don't open?
Already vowing to avoid the resort in future and Crystal would get the elbow too if they dump me in a closed resort.
As I remember last December Gastein was fully open with great conditions in December and when I turned up in mid January it was extremely threadbare. Should have learned a lesson there.

I too arrived in Bad Gastein mid Jan 2014 and found conditions as unpleasant as I have ever had, but we made the best of it and Sport or Dorf were by far the better areas for snow.

Currently snow at Sport but hard to tell if it goes down to the bottom of the drag lift or mid station which would be needed to open. Absolute zero in Dorf though currently

I have been watching one particular resort's weather forecasts with grim amusement. Last Wednesday, it was set to snow on Friday, then Friday night. On Thursday, it was going to snow on Saturday. Neither prediction came to pass. Today, it says snow on Monday and Tuesday. I'm not holding my breath...

It has to be remembered that meteorologists are scientists who were no good at science otherwise they would have been doctors, physicists, chemists etc etc! (Only joking and apologies to any met men or women out there!) -) :D

Do the forecasters have any connection with the resorts? Just sayin'!

Brucie wrote:Do the forecasters have any connection with the resorts? Just sayin'!

Not possible, the forecasters cover a huge number of resorts.

This year is a bit more odd than some, (but not all), previous years, the weather pattern has lingered. Quite frustrating for us, when we are looking at the forecast for a particular resort, and the forecast keeps time shifting

The alps are definitely cooling, the mountain ground temperatures are falling, so conditions are coming good for switching on machines. However, as you know Brucie, for snow, we also need the right precipitation conditions.

The forecast seems to look good for pre-Christmas cover.

Meanwhile, my friends in Austria are enjoying their hill walking....

Situation in N French Alps is as follows:
1) Freezing level has since Friday been down to 1000m and importantly only a few degree above during day
2) Next week cold with dusting of snow
3) Following week looks like plenty of snow

I am predicting N France will fully open as planned with 1M + of snow on 20th of December. Long term forecast looks promising over Christmas-NY period.

Talk in town is of how we now have a stable base which is so important is so important
to maximize the season. Current situation is therefore as per plan and historical norm.

Just spoken to the Crystal rep in Gastein and he seems confident that the resort will open next weekend. I asked what the plan was if not and he said that Crystal will transport us to an alternate resort to ski. I asked where that would be and he did not know and it would depend who was open. I'm not sure that he understands the severity of the situation because if Gastein can't open how can other resorts open near enough to commute to. There has been a light dusting today but not really enough to sledge on let alone ski. Nothing is forecast for the entire week at the moment but temperatures would seem to enable snow making but they had not kicked in before it went dark today.

yeah, the snow forecast for the past weekend never really materialised. It tried to "snow" on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but the combined 3-day effort probably brought about 1.5cm total. The worst thing is that it doesn't feel like it will snow in the nearest future. All the clouds are low-lying, and abouve 2000 - 2200m the skies are clear and sun is shining. Locals say that no big snow will arrive until January. We had very dry December last year which destroyed the base, but this year there is no base to speak of yet :( But it did get colder, so they should be able to make snow at least for the pistes.