Europe Weekly Snow Roundup #298

• Tignes Set to Open, Bringing France to Half of Glacier Ski Areas This Weekend
• Hintertux Leads with 27km Open—Northern Hemisphere’s Most Terrain Right Now
• Midnight Sun Skiing Returns to Sweden’s Riksgränsen for Four-Day Solstice Bash
• Stryn Hit by Mixed Showers, Galdhøpiggen Basks in Sunshine—Both Still Fully Open
• Alps Stay Warm with 4,000m Freezing Line, Showers May Bring More Rain Than Snow

ALPS REPORT

There's been plenty of sunny weather in the Alps over the past week, and with the freezing point up between 3,000 and 4,000-metre altitudes, what light snowfalls there have been have sometimes been rain and sleet rather than snow. There's no change in the five glacier areas open, but a sixth, Tignes, is due to open this coming weekend—when half the glaciers open will be in France. However, Austria's Hintertux (0/250cm / 0/100") continues to post the most terrain open in the Northern Hemisphere at present, with about 27km (17 miles) of runs available. The Matterhorn Glacier Paradise (0/120cm / 0/48") above Zermatt in Switzerland—and also accessible from Cervinia in Italy—has the second most with 17km (11 miles) of slopes available. Other centres have less than 10km. The other choices are Italy's Passo Stelvio (5/170cm / 2/68"), Les 2 Alpes (0/200cm / 0/80"), and Val d’Isère (0/160cm / 0/64") in France.

ALPS FORECAST

Mostly warm, with the freezing point at 3,700 to 4,400m and afternoon highs in the high single figures above freezing, even at 3,000m altitudes. Some light showers may bubble up in the afternoons towards the weekend, but with the high temperatures, these may fall as rain or sleet.

SCANDINAVIA REPORT

Norway’s Stryn (120/200cm / 48/80") and Galdhøpiggen (40/120cm / 16/48") glaciers remain open, with rather different weather reported over the past week. Stryn has seen unsettled conditions with rain, sleet, and snow showers, while Galdhøpiggen has enjoyed slightly more settled conditions with sunny skies. Both remain fully open in any case—unlike the country’s third area, Fonna, which is reported to be open for cat skiing and touring only, its lift not running this year. Besides Norway’s glaciers, for the end of this week only, Sweden's famous northerly resort of Riksgränsen reopens for four days of skiing over the summer solstice—from this Thursday, 19th to Sunday, 22nd June—including its trademark skiing under the midnight sun, thanks to the 24-hour daylight now up in the Arctic Circle.

SCANDINAVIA FORECAST

It's really more of the same for Norway's glaciers, with more unsettled conditions forecast through to the weekend. Overnight lows should continue to drop as low as -5°C, but daytime highs reaching +8°C will mean precipitation can fall as rain and sleet as well as snow, at times.