Alps

Snow in the Alps

The Alps run in an arc about 1,200 km long from the French Riviera to Vienna, and they hold most of the world’s ski resorts. Mont Blanc, on the French-Italian border, is the highest point at 4,806 m. The range is a series of sub-ranges and massifs, each with its own character: the Graian and Dauphiné Alps in France with the highest, most snow-sure resorts; the Pennine and Bernese Alps in Switzerland under the Matterhorn and the Jungfrau; the Ötztal, Zillertal and Kitzbühel Alps and the Arlberg in Austria; and the Dolomites in Italy, which are geologically and visually a world apart.

In our record the Alpine resorts average about 12 snowy days at mid-mountain in December, January and March, with 10 in February and April. The northern side of the range, facing the Atlantic storms, gets the most; the southern, Italian side gets more sun and, in most winters, less snow, though southerly storms can bury the Dolomites.

When it snows

Snow is regular from November to April across the range. The glacier resorts of the Valais, the Ötztal and the Tarentaise open in October or November and some ski into summer; most other resorts open in early December and close between early and late April.

Reading the forecast

Altitude is everything in the Alps. In a mild storm the snow line can sit at 1,800 m or higher, so the same weather brings rain to a village at 1,000 m and 30 cm to a lift station at 2,500 m. Every resort page here has a forecast for both.