J2Ski Snow Report - August 8th 2024
J2Ski Snow Report - August 8th 2024
Published : 08-Aug-2024 05:41
Hotham, Victoria, Australia earlier today.
Heavy snow in Argentina (again), as well as New Zealand, with top-ups for Chile and improving conditions in Australia.
The Snow Headlines - August 8th
- Perisher reports all lifts running for the first time in two years.
- Heavy snow, and elevated avalanche risk, in Argentina.
- Warm temperatures on Alpine glaciers see fast thawing of summer snow cover.
- Best conditions of season so far in New Zealand.
Find out where there is snow forecast
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World Overview
The main snow news this week has been the heavy snowfall in New Zealand sending more resorts there through the 1m base depth mark and allowing them to open more terrain, with most commercial centres on the South Island now fully open - or nearly so - ...but some smaller club fields without snowmaking still not open at all.
In Australia, cold weather for more snowmaking has allowed centres to consolidate their terrain opening after the big snowfalls of late July and a growing number of resorts are now fully open, or almost.
Heavy snowfall in the Andes too has led to temporary closures while slopes are made safe and lifts dug out but the overall picture remains very positive.
In the northern hemisphere, the ongoing battle is against warm summer temperatures impacting the remaining summer snow cover at the five centres currently open in Europe and North America. Despite that, the change in the seasons is getting nearer with another five glacier and northern latitude ski centres announcing that they plan to open for their 24-25 seasons in less than two months time.
Southern Hemisphere
Australia
Australia's ski resorts are reporting some of the best conditions of the season thanks to more fresh snowfall and cold temperatures for snowmaking after the big snowfalls a fortnight ago.
Perisher reported on Saturday that it had opened the 46th of its 46 lifts, The Olympic T Bar, for the first time since 2022 meaning all its lifts are running for the first time in two years.
There's not been much snowfall but there has been more snow-making on Aussie slopes this week. Base depths are now through the metre mark with Thredbo and Perisher reaching around 125cm on their upper slopes.
The mostly sunny skies and dry conditions continue to be forecast for the weekend too. Highs well into the high single figures in the afternoons but dipping to -7C overnight.
New Zealand
New Zealand's ski areas have enjoyed some fabulous conditions following big snowfalls last week, delivering the best conditions of the season to date.
Most centres have been able to open more terrain and the majority of the commercial centres are now fully open (or close).
There are exceptions to the good news though with several of the smaller club fields that are 100% reliant on natural snowfall saying they still don't have enough and on the North Island, Whakapapa on Mount Ruapehu continues to suffer with only a fraction of its terrain open.
After sunshine last weekend, more clouds have rolled in with temperatures staying low and it looks like there'll be more snowfall over the next few days.
Several areas posted 10-20cm accumulations as snow returned on Thursday and expected powder days through the weekend.
Argentina
Argentinian ski areas reported some more heavy snowfall in the past week, heaviest around last weekend before skies started to clear midweek.
The snowfall, the most in a month or so following the very snowy May-June period, brought fresh powder but also increased avalanche risk, limiting open terrain for a while.
The country continues to post the world's deepest snow, with over three metres lying on higher slopes at Chapelco and Las Leñas - and it seems likely the southern hemisphere's largest single ski area, Catedral near Bariloche, will return to having the most terrain open in the world once slopes are made safe to open again.
Chile
All of Chile's ski centres are 85-100% open thanks to the big snowfalls at the start of the season.
There has been some snowfall this last week too, although it does not appear to have been so heavy as further east in Argentina, and conditions have turned clear and sunny again, although still cold, with lows below -10C and highs hardly reaching freezing.
Nevados de Chillan has the country's deepest snow at 2.5m and the Tre Valles inter-connected area of Valle Nevado, La Parva and El Colorado is almost fully open delivering the largest ski area currently open in the world with over 100km of slopes.
Southern Africa
Lesotho's Afriski has had its usual sunny week, with temperatures in a wide range between -8 and +10C through the 24-hour cycle. Its main mile-long piste remains fully open with snowmaking used to top up cover overnight as required. The season ends here at the end of the month.
Europe
We're on four glacier ski areas still open in the Alps but temperatures have remained above freezing day and night, between around +2 and +10C at glacier level, so snowpack depths continue to fall and open terrain is diminishing too.
There's no real sign of a temperature drop at present and the light showers there have been have fallen as rain rather than snow in most cases.
Austrias's Hintertux and Switzerland's Saas Fee and Zermatt (also accessible from Cervinia), have about 10km of slopes open each. Italy's Passo Stelvio is also open with about 4km of runs there.
Up in Norway the Fonna and Galdhopiggen glaciers have closed to the public for now but have race teams training and have been reporting great conditions for them.
North America
It's really just the Palmer Snowfield above Timberline on Mount Hood in Oregon that's still open in North America ...unless you count the Big Snow indoor snow hall in New Jersey or the hike-to terrain park at Colorado's Copper Mountain which is on its final weekend of summer 2024 this week.
Temperatures at Timberline too have been very warm and well above freezing day and night so the snowpark and few miles of runs are best tackled in the early morning light. There's a fortnight left of the season to run there.
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