J2Ski Snow Report - October 3rd 2024
J2Ski Snow Report - October 3rd 2024
Published : 03-Oct-2024 05:49
Kaunertal Glacier, one of six Austrian glacier ski areas that will be open by the weekend!
Six glacier options now open in Austria, and the third Swiss and first Finnish ski areas to open for the coming winter will do so this weekend.
The Snow Headlines - October 3rd
- More snowfall on high slopes in the Alps, six Austrian glaciers now open.
- North American forecast is for warm October.
- Finland's season due to get underway this weekend thanks to snowfarming.
- Northern hemisphere ski areas open back into double figures from Saturday.
- Engelberg to be third centre open in Switzerland.
- Australia's 2024 Season is over.
- Only one centre still open in Argentina (until Sunday).
It's still autumn in Asia (mostly) but there's snow forecast for the peaks in Europe and North America.
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World Overview
There's a positive buzz in the Alps at present with snow continuing to fall and temperatures staying low, mostly, above 3,000m.
We're about to go back into double figures for the number of northern hemisphere centres open - for the first time since May, with three more glaciers opening this weekend, and more than half will be in Austria. Further north the season is also due to start in Finland, thanks to snow farming there.
Across in North America, they're battling hurricanes and forest fires in the US rather than seeing much new snow yet. Up in Alberta, resorts around Banff where the season should start in 4 weeks time, have had more snow.
The season continues to wind down in the southern hemisphere with most centres either now closed for 2024 or closing this Sunday. About half a dozen areas, almost all in Chile and New Zealand, will operate a week or two longer yet though, battling inevitably ever-warmer temperatures.
Europe
Alps
Everything is looking positive for the start of the season at this very early stage in the Alps.
We'll have the fifth and sixth Austrian glacier areas - Kaunertal and Kaprun's Kitzsteinhorn - getting their seasons underway by this weekend and there are light to moderate snowfalls on glaciers and high slopes.
There's not been anything as exciting as the mid-September falls to low levels as yet.
There will be 11 glaciers open this weekend in total, more than half in Austria. A third Swiss option, the Titlis Glacier above Engelberg, will open earlier than originally announced, and join Saas Fee and Zermatt.
In Italy, you can ski at Passo Stelvio and there's (very) limited terrain at Val Senales mostly reserved for race training. The link from Cervinia to Zermatt's glacier slopes is currently closed.
Besides the two new openers in Austria, you can also ski today at the already open Hintertux, Solden, Pitztal and Stubai glaciers. There's some competition to offer the most terrain with Hintertux currently winning with 22km plus a big terrain park.
There remains nowhere open in France or expected to be until late November.
The weather moving forward is remaining cold (around -10C to +3C at 3,000m altitudes) with plenty of sunshine but the occasional snow shower up high through the weekend.
Scandinavia
It's a big weekend coming up with both Levi and Ruka ski areas opening in Finland, starting the seven-month-long 24-25 ski season there. Both use large volumes of snow stockpiled through the summer which they've been spreading back out on their slopes this week as temperatures have cooled. Both will have a few kilometres of runs open starting Friday.
They join the re-opened Galdhopiggen glacier summer ski area in Norway which has reported some fresh snowfall with temperatures hovering around freezing this week and more forecast in the coming days.
Southern Hemisphere
New Zealand
Changeable weather in New Zealand this past week with some decent dumps followed by blue sky days giving beautiful conditions but also periods of rain as spring temperatures climb higher, so a mixed picture.
Ski centres have started ending their seasons with Coronet Peak and Treble Cone closing on Sunday although most of the rest remain open, some keen to offer skiing for the latest school holidays in the country.
Most of the big names plan to stay open at least another week with Mount Hutt, The Remarkables and Cardrona aiming to make the 13th, a week on Sunday.
Turoa and Whakapapa on the North Island are also both still open but have thin cover and only a small amount of runs open each, although they're actually in better shape now than they have been all winter.
It's looking like a cold and snowy end to the week for most, drier next week with temperatures remaining fairly cool, in the -5 to +6C range.
Argentina
Argentina's ski season is almost over with most of the country's remaining ski areas, including the southern hemisphere's largest, Catedral, closing for the season last weekend.
One does remain open though, at least until this coming weekend, with Chapelco posting the deepest base in the world still at 3.3 metres (11 feet).
The weather has been and will continue to be mostly dry. Temperatures ranging from -5C overnight to +15C in the afternoons.
Chile
Unlike Argentina, more than half of Chile's ski centres are still open this week, although the majority of those do plan to end their seasons this coming Sunday or Monday.
Big players Nevados de Chillan and Portillo have already closed.
Valle Nevado is the stand-out for skiing later into October though, having extended its season to at least the 21st and still reporting over 100km of slopes available thanks to its connections to neighbouring areas La Parva and Del Colorado.
As in Argentina temperatures have been getting very warm in the afternoons and it's been mostly dry this past week. Precipitation forecast next week will most likely be rain and sleet with the higher temperatures.
North America
Unfortunately, North America doesn't seem to be being favoured by the weather gods at the moment.
On the West Coast, they continue to battle forest fires impacting ski resorts, in the Midwest resort infrastructure was damaged by the latest hurricane and in the Rockies, where everyone is hoping snowmaking can get underway soon on high slopes with the aim of somewhere opening the start the continent's season at some point in October, it has instead been dry and not that cold.
In an added blow the NOAA government forecasting agencies say they expect this month to be warmer and drier than usual, so it's not looking promising just yet.
The only real bright light is that the longer term, December to February, forecast is for a colder and snowier winter than usual, at least in the north of the continent.
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