With snow falling down to Alpine valley floors – in most cases for the first time this Autumn.
Ski areas are celebrating with 30-60cm expected for some centres on their higher slopes through the weekend.
Although there were some snowfalls on high slopes in September and October, it had been a largely dry and sunny autumn in the Alps so far.
(Lech in Austria is pictured above, Samnaun in Switzerland top this morning)
About a dozen Alpine glacier ski areas are open already, but most still have thin snow cover and less terrain open than usual so far, so once the snow clouds clear the fresh powder will be welcome there.
9 of 12 planned FIS World Cup season-opening competitions on glaciers at the end of October and the upcoming first weekend of November have had to be cancelled due to the conditions and there are still no ski areas open in France.
The new snowfall will hopefully improve that with the planned opening dates of non-glacier resorts like Obergurgl, Obertauern and Val Thorens now only a fortnight away.
Snowfall is also being reported in the Dolomites and Pyrenees (Piau Engaly in France below).
