Skiing forecast

Good news for the Alps this week as snow is finally set to return to most of our favourite resorts. Up to a metre of fresh snow could fall in the next seven days. It is set to be an especially plentiful harvest for the following areas: around the Matterhorn (Zermatt, Cervinia, etc); around Aosta; in the Tarentaise Valley (3 Valleys, Espace Killy, Valmorel); Via Lattea ski area; Southern Alps (Isola 2000, Limone). This band is where the heaviest snow will be concentrated, but lots of areas are set to do well out of the coming storm. The exception is Austria, which is set to miss out on the main snowfalls. Over in the Pyrenees, there could be some scattered snowfalls but nothing like what we could see in the Alps. In Scandinavia, lots of snow is set to keep falling in western Norway with some precipitations likely in the rest of the country.

What a great time to be skiing in North America. Temperatures in Canada have been bitterly cold and are expected to reach as low as -12C in Alberta this week, so wrap up warm. Make sure you dig out those wide skis too, as heavy snow is predicted to continue to fall right through Christmas. If you are lucky enough to be heading to British Columbia, expect steady snowfall throughout the week and plenty of first tracks to be had. In the USA temperatures are similarly cold, so again put on an extra layer to avoid freezing on the chair lifts. In California the weather should stay largely sunny this week until Friday, at which point a whopping 42cm is expected to fall at Squaw Valley. In Wyoming, Jackson Hole continues to get dumped on, and conditions there are arguably some of the best in the world. In Utah, Deer Valley and Park City are predicted to receive a late Christmas gift of around 20cm on Boxing Day.