Snow for the Euros.

[geo039]

30+ here in GE...and pounding still. About to build a wall ride here in my backyard, but decided on a little lunch break out in Carouge.
Peeps asking where the ski area was:

A little fun...

Now back to making toothbrushes....

[davidof]

30+ here in GE...and pounding still..

Nice, urban skiers out in force in Annecy and Grenoble last night.

I've done a few routes on the Saleve if you are interested. I explored the Grand Gorge diretissima on foot in the summer but there is no safeish way to ski it without an ab of about 8-10 meters.

[geo039]

Interested...but anything in the trees is still VERY thin. Is the telecabine running?

I've done a few routes on the Saleve if you are interested.

[LaZapatilla]

Anyone skiing the Pyrenees ? I will be stuck in Barcelona for 3 days around the 10th and I thought I might go skiing instead of spending another 2 days taking pics of Gaudi architecture wonders... It seems there's enough snow on the E side of the Pyrenees already, but I really have no clue where to go..So does anyone know of any good ski resorts accessible by public transport from Barcelona?

Vihren, I can't think of any decent ski areas near Barcelona. How far are you willing to travel? If you want to explore and don't mind traveling, try Baqueira Beret, Formigal or Astun.
The closest ski area to Barcelona is La Molina. It's a small place, but it looks like maybe you could get there by train.
http://www.lamolina.com/
And one more link
http://www.eltiempo.es/esqui/

[davidof]

Interested...but anything in the trees is still VERY thin. Is the telecabine running?

maybe they will open la Croisette this weekend :-) ?

[subtle plague]

the saint nicholas heat wave is coming for sure...hiw bad it will become still depends on certain "feaky spanish low" factors. the southern alps and aosta valley should still get snow above 2000m so i guess it wont be that bad. the models are still extremely jumpy. It might get worse or the snowpacks will survive with a few scratches.

around the 8th cooler weather should return...

Update:the latest model run spreads new powder love. the alps wouldbe right on the border of warm and cold and would receive a lot of new snow above 1000m (N) and 1500(S/SW). But as I said.... it is still very very uncertain. (and only 5 days away, which underlindes the problems the models have right now! ).

[davidof]

the saint nicholas heat wave is coming for sure..

It is very bizarre this first week of December heatwave, normally we get a foehn, a bit of rain to high altitudes at this time wouldn't be too bad if it gets cold right after. Anything but the foehn in fact.

You can never have too much snow though, unless you live in an avalanche zone, even in winter of '99 there were days when a top up would have been great.

[Vihren]

Vihren, I can't think of any decent ski areas near Barcelona. How far are you willing to travel? If you want to explore and don't mind traveling, try Baqueira Beret, Formigal or Astun.
The closest ski area to Barcelona is La Molina. It's a small place, but it looks like maybe you could get there by train.
http://www.lamolina.com/
And one more link
http://www.eltiempo.es/esqui/

Hey thanks for the links!! I will have a look at La Molina, if it's worth it I might go there.. I am not looking for anything special, just snow ... to start the season

[geo039]

Jura opening:
http://www.monts-jura.com/welcome/index.php

maybe they will open la Croisette this weekend :-) ?

[davidof]

man, you're really old!

yeah, that's why I still use 220cm wooden skis with 65mm underfoot :-)

[Franz Klammer]

This had me pretty excited:
http://derstandard.at/1289609182747/...-und-kein-Ende

Schnee und kein Ende -- Alle zwei Tage Schneenachschub

Wie eine riesige Schallplatte gegen den Uhrzeigersinn dreht sich derzeit ein mächtiger Tiefdruckkomplex über Westeuropa. An seinem Rand bilden sich über dem Mittelmeer laufend neue Randtiefs, die mit ihrer feuchten Luft von Südwesten gegen die Alpen ziehen. In Bodennähe hingegen fließt unentwegt Kaltluft aus nördlichen bis östlichen Richtungen ins Land. "Ungefähr alle zwei Tage ist somit für neuen Schneenachschub gesorgt - zumindest noch bis Freitag, danach wird es vorübergehend etwas ruhiger", erklärt die Meteorologin Muriset.


SCHALLPLATTE FTW!

[Arno]

anyone on the ground in Andermatt?
i have accommodation booked there this weekend but it looks like it missed most of this recent dump. still inclined to stick with Andermatt on the basis that there has been some new snow and hopefully the wind will have blown around the old snow and filled in tracks but would be good to get some first hand info

[subtle plague]

no im probably somewhere further southeast.... engadin, or italy i guess.

[teosickrider]

anyone on the ground in Andermatt?
i have accommodation booked there this weekend but it looks like it missed most of this recent dump. still inclined to stick with Andermatt on the basis that there has been some new snow and hopefully the wind will have blown around the old snow and filled in tracks but would be good to get some first hand info

Present.
The resort is gonna be open from friday only...it's not open during the week yet. Some new snow should come. It mustn't be too bad.

[davidof]

I had a couple of hours to kill between dropping the Wee'un off at school and him snowshoeing up to the bakers to fetch my evening brioche so I called Anny and we headed up to le Chamchaude, the highest peak in the Chartreuse (6800'), there is around 2700' of vert to hike which I hoped we could knock off in a little over an hour.



There has been around 60cm of fresh over the last few days on the base that fell on Saturday. However the wind (west to east) had stripped snow from the ridges and rocks were not far from the surface.



Forecast is for more snow tomorrow then rain to 1700-2000m on Monday.

[jumpturn]

Can the weather gurus chime in on anticipated consequences of la Nina for European snow conditions this year?

We were guessing it might be pretty good. It certainly seems off to a good start, especially if we don't see much more foehn (nasty).

[Ripzalot]

this looks like a good read (and a positive long-term forecast):

http://www.maison-jaune.com/blog/384...amonix-2010-11

La Ninas cause slightly warmer winters in Northern Europe than usual, often with cold spells early on.

However, the presence of the Atlantic ocean moderates the affect that the Pacific ocean has on us here in Europe.

The North Atlantic Oscillation is a climate phenomenon of fluctuations in the differences of atmospheric pressure at sea level between Iceland and the Azores.

In other words, it is a measure of the strength and direction of the westerly winds across the North Atlantic.

The permanent low-pressure system over Iceland, and the permanent high-pressure system over the Azores control the strength and direction of the prevailing westerly winds into Europe.

When there is a big difference in the pressure at the two stations (NAO+), this produces increased westerly winds, and thus cool summers and mild and wet winters (large snow pack) in Central Europe.


Impacts of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)
Source: http://bit.ly/c5WPrR Investigations into Seasonal Predictability of North Atlantic Winter Climate by C.G. Fletcher

However, when the index is low, (NAO-), westerly winds are suppressed and these areas suffer cold winters and storms track southerly toward the Mediterranean Sea resulting in increased storm activity and rainfall to southern Europe and North Africa

Last winter, 2009-10, there was an El Nino condition and an extremely negative NAO, which some meteorologists believe led to the unusually cold winter (coldest in UK for 30 years, with over 7 consecutive days where the temperature was sub-zero).

...

Looking at the graph above, I think that the ongoing negative NAO is starting to diminish, and as it is the longest period of sustained negative NAO since 1968, I believe that it is most likely to reverse to be a NAO+ winter.

Thus, I think the pattern for the start of this winter will be a La Nina and a positive NAO.

As these are characterised by cold spells early on then mild, wet winters, one might expect this coming winter to be excellent. The ground will freeze early, and the higher ski resorts such as Chamonix will receive abundant precipitation, i.e. snow!!!

...

Winters with La Nina : 2009, 2008, 2000, 1999, 1995, 1989, 1998, 1985, 1976, 1975, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1967, 1968, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1956, 1955

Winters with NAO+ : 2007,2004, 2002, 2000, 1999, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1983, 1976, 1973, 1972, 1967, 1959, 1954

Winters with La Nina & NAO+: 2000, 1999, 1995, 1989, 1976, 1973, 1972, 1967

[Toby]

Yeah, except the NAO isn't anywhere near positive or heading that way at the moment.

[Hayduke]

I had a couple of hours to kill between dropping the Wee'un off at school and him snowshoeing up to the bakers to fetch my evening brioche so I called Anny and we headed up to le Chamchaude.....

Excellent! What a life!

[Ripzalot]

Yeah, except the NAO isn't anywhere near positive or heading that way at the moment.

well at least it's trending towards positive.

[ulty_guy]

NAO has been in it's biggest consecutive negative month streak since the cold decade of the 60s.

[Marius]

Anyone skiing the Pyrenees ? I will be stuck in Barcelona for 3 days around the 10th and I thought I might go skiing instead of spending another 2 days taking pics of Gaudi architecture wonders... It seems there's enough snow on the E side of the Pyrenees already, but I really have no clue where to go..So does anyone know of any good ski resorts accessible by public transport from Barcelona?

just flew over the Pyrenees last Sunday. Looked like snow. not much, but ok to do some touring etc. some guy here in valencia told me there are several ski areas open already.

[sassa]

Heavily snowing in Geneva again. Looks like they gonna cancel the Course de L'Escalade = skiing tomorrow...!!

[subtle plague]

engadin anyone this WE?
i'll be around.

and this el ninjo la nina change (la nina has happend recently so the normal teleconnections can not yet apply in europe) is special because the usual "la nina winter" correlations do not apply. To measure any la nina effects in europe at all is really difficult and the outcome might drown in other trends.

more important for our winter is the nAO, as ulty indicated, and the longitudinal weather pattern persistence which is VERY dominant in 2010 (which will lead to only a short warming period at the 6th. and more cold weather afterwards btw. which is amazing).

Also the AO (arctic oscillation) is really unusal. combine this with a very low solar cycle and you get the recipe for another nice winter. but since weathe ris a chaotic system i wouldn't bet my house on it.

[freak]

wow, your really getting old. first you get a job, now youve already got a house!

freak~[&]