J2Ski Snow Report - April 17th 2025
J2Ski Snow Report - April 17th 2025
Published : 17-Apr-2025 08:04
Verbier, Switzerland, has had almost 2 metres of snow in the last 36 hours...
Spring is postponed! In the Alps anyway... Huge snowfalls have temporarily shut lifts (and roads) but transformed conditions. It's also snowed in America.
The Snow Headlines - April 17th
- Incredible snowfall in the Western Alps.
- Up to another half metre of snowfall in the Pyrenees.
- Japan's Gassan ski area starts 2025 summer ski season.
- Snow for North East US, the Rockies and across Canada.
- Ski area in Poland plans to stay open into May.
Still more snow to come for Europe.
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World Overview
In the many years of our J2Ski Weekly Snow Reports there have been few occasions when we've reported snowfalls like we've had in the Western and Central Alps over the past 36 hours.
After a long period of dry, sunny weather, resorts have been posting up to 1.5m (five feet) of snowfall on Wednesday and Thursday. These kind of accumulations sound great, and will certainly mean great conditions for the next few weeks, but have big safety and logistical implications.
Avalanche danger levels are at their highest level, power lines are down, roads blocked and many ski areas are closed for the day; in some, people are being asked to stay indoors due to the extreme avalanche danger.
Of course this, the biggest snowfall for several seasons (some places are saying since 1976!), has come very late, and more than 80% of Europe's ski areas have closed for the 24-25 season. However most of the continent's bigger, better known areas are amongst those that have made it to the upcoming late Easter weekend, so next week could be amazing for them.
Elsewhere, there's been more snowfall in Scandinavia, with northern areas doing particularly well and lower temperatures keeping the snow in good shape.
Snowfall has also returned to Eastern Europe, but Scottish centres remain closed for snowsports, other than Glencoe's dry slope.
Across the Atlantic parts of the US, particularly the Rockies and New England, have reported fresh snow, and it's been a good week for still-open Canadian centres with coast-to-coast snowfall on mountains there.
Europe
Austria
After mostly dry and sunny weather last week, the remaining Austrian ski areas still open for the season have reported mixed conditions since the weekend with a lot of cloud rolling in and rain and sleet showers, falling as snow on higher mountain slopes.
Austria has not seen the snowfalls recorded further west as yet but the Stubai Glacier reported 30cm on Thursday and there's more coming.
About 50 Austrian ski centres plan to stay open for the Easter weekend, representing about 15% of the country's ski areas.
The best conditions are on high slopes led by the country's glacier ski areas. Solden reports 97% of its slopes still open and the deepest snow at 2.5m up high, though only 10cm left down at village level.
It looks like sunshine and showers for the remainder of this week and over Easter with valley temperatures getting above +20C down at 1,000m.
France
Following mostly sunny weather again last week, French ski areas saw mixed conditions earlier this week, with some largely light snowfalls above 2000m.
Then everything changed on Wednesday (and into Thursday) with massive snowfall, many resorts (Chamonix, Les Arcs, Courchevel, etc.) reporting at least a metre of snowfall in 24 hours. Tignes, where there's an order to stay indoors for much of Thursday, reported 1.5 metres.
Roads are blocked, the avalanche danger at 5/5 and there's a high flood risk for when it all starts to thaw... but there's potential for great powder skiing once pistes re-open and are declared safe.
Another swathe of resorts closed last Sunday leaving about two dozen French areas open at least to the coming Easter weekend, including most of the big names.
The Three Valleys was still reporting around 500km of its slopes remaining open before the storm closure, by far the most in the country, and the world.
The Grand Massif around Flaine was posting the deepest snow up top of the big areas, at about 2.5m.
The new snowfall has pushed upper bases at Les Arcs back up above 3 metres.
After a clearer spell for most areas this coming Friday and Saturday more unsettled conditions with regular snowfall (if not on the scale we're currently witnessing), is expected, especially above 2,000m, through the Easter weekend.
Italy
Italy started to see light snowfall across the country at the start of last weekend as unsettled weather moved up from the south. This was just a few centimetres on high slopes though with Arabba in the Dolomites and Bardonecchia over on the French border among the early beneficiaries.
Snow, sleet and rain showers have continued through the week.
Mountains in the west of the country got heavy falls, starting Wednesday, from the current storm.
Cervinia has posted the biggest accumulation so far, 1.2 metres, but there are big falls along Italy's borders, La Thuile posting a metre on Thursday morning.
About 30 Italian ski areas, representing around 15% of resorts there, remain open for the Easter weekend.
Once it is able to re-open its pistes, Cervinia, with the country's highest slopes shared with Swiss neighbour Zermatt, has the most terrain accessible; about 90% of its 320km of slopes were still open before the storm blew in.
Switzerland
Swiss centres also experienced changeable conditions earlier in the week with Zermatt, which is currently posting the most terrain open in the country, amongst the first to report a few centimetres on Monday.
Accumulations on higher slopes were getting heavier through the week, falling as sleet and rain on lower terrain.
From Wednesday, massive accumulations of a metre or more (in 24 hours) fell for ski areas across all but Eastern Switzerland.
The Valais region saw some of the biggest falls with Verbier reporting over 1.2 metres and one J2Skier reporting there was a stay-at-home order in place following some of the most heavy and intense snowfall for nearly 50 years. Power supplies were also cut and the avalanche danger is exceptionally high.
As with other ski nations, 85% of Swiss resorts had already ended their seasons, but those that remain include plenty of the big resorts. With the heaviest snowfall now passing, sunshine and showers are expected to continue through to the Easter weekend with valley highs touching +20C at 1000m altitudes.
There should be great powder skiing conditions on high slopes that are still open once its safe to access them.
Scandinavia
Ski areas in northern Norway and Sweden as well as Finland have posted more fresh snowfall, with some posting more than 30cm (a foot) over the past seven days.
Temperatures have typically been in the -5C to +5C range at more northerly latitudes with ski areas reporting a mix of dry spells and snow showers. Some have seen occasional warm days getting above +10C but mostly conditions remain good here.
Sweden's Hemavan, Norway's Narvik and Finland's Levi were among the areas posting the biggest accumulations.
Pyrenees and Spain
Some ski areas in the Pyrenees have closed for the season but six or so of the biggest resorts in Andorra and on the French and Spanish sides of the mountains are still open for the Easter weekend.
The region has seen continuing snow showers (along with sleet and rain) over the past week, with Andorra's Grandvalia posting 35cm in the past 48 hours, but it's now looking sunnier for the next few days.
For most (probably all) of them that will be the final weekend of the season.
That could leave only Europe's most southerly ski area, Spain's Sierra Nevada, which has extended its season to May 4th, open next week.
Scotland
Temperatures dipped back down to seasonal norms in Scotland on Sunday after being well above for the first half of April. There was even some hill snow reported over the past few days. But it seems unlikely anywhere will see enough snowfall to be able to re-open.
Eastern Europe
Most ski areas in Eastern Europe are now closed or will close this weekend.
All ski areas in Bulgaria are in the former category with Bansko the last to do so on Sunday.
Slovakia's Jasna is still open, continuing up to the Easter weekend. It, like the handful of other still-open centres in the region, reports just 20-40% of its terrain, the higher slopes, still open though.
It's been a fairly mild week but a few light snow showers have been reported.
At least one ski area will be staying open next week though with Polish resort Zakopane's highest slopes planning to stay open until May 1st, conditions permitting.
North America
Canada
Snowfall has been reported on both eastern and western sides of Canada.
As with most other big skiing nations, we're down to only about a quarter of Canadian resorts still open, but it's been powder conditions reported at those that are.
Lake Louise and Sunshine both posted more than 15cm (6") of fresh to start the week on Monday and there's also been snowfall for Tremblant and Mont Sainte Anne, which are among still-open resorts in the East.
The rest of the week is looking warmer and drier with just light showers, probably rain, with highs around +7C in the West but as much as +17C in Quebec.
USA
As elsewhere, more than three-quarters of US ski areas have now ended their seasons and the country has been seeing some very warm temperatures, particularly over on the West Coast.
There have though been some periods of snowfall in some areas of the country. The Northeast did well at the weekend with a "mini-Nor'easter' bringing 15-30cm accumulations to ski slopes in Vermont, Maine and New York state and there was also snowfall in the Colorado and Utah Rockies.
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