After a long hot summer it has been a week of much colder, snowier weather in the Alps.
There were dustings of snow on high slopes in the Western Alps a week ago, but the past few days has seen the snowfall covering a far wider area and reaching low elevations. Accumulations up at 3,000m have now topped 30cm (a foot) at some areas. Germany’s Zugspitze glacier is pictured yesterday.
The snowfall has been reported as far east as Slovenia and the Julian Alps at Kranjska Gora s well as in the Western Alps at resorts including Avoriaz, pictured top this morning. The snow has also fallen down to low levels at resorts including Kitzbühel and Lech in Austria, the latter posted this image this morning.
Currently three glacier ski areas are open in the Alps – Saas Fee, Zermatt and Passo Stelvio with Hintertux currently having paused operations in the summer heat, but perhaps now able to reopen soon. The Pitztal and Solden glacier ski areas are scheduled to open in a fortnight’s time.
