Chatel Snow

The meteo-alpes one is a good one too. The problem out here is that the one really really good forecast is one done locally by Meteo France which is basically a paid for fax bulletin - its quite expensive, but is a really good detailed forecast for the Haute Savioe. Because this fax is expensive to use over a period of time, and you are not allowed to copy it and post it online - then this is the reason why the cham meteo and meteo alpes websites exist - as they try and provide a free service for those in the mountains. I sometimes see the Meteo France fax pinned up at one of the lift stations here - but it is not available anywhere online (as far as I can see). Not even our very own wealthy tourist office in Chatel appears to be able to reproduce it, as they reproduce the cham meteo forecast on their website. The closest I have come to finding a more basic graphical version of this meteo france fax is at the main Chamonix site - which puts this up every day at 7.30 am http://www.chamonix.com/meteo,11,fr.html

Thanks John. This is the list I use for our particular location ... they often give conflicting amounts!! - Meteo France Snowfall- Meteo France Prevision (has snow/rain limits) - Meteo France Avalanche Bulletin - Chamonix-meteo.com- Meteo Suisse text forecast- Meteo Suisse for Morgins - Meteo-Alpes.org - Euro 4, UKMO & GFS raw data charts

Problem with snowforecast .com is that, even though it uses GFS data, it appears to bear no resemblance to the GFS precip data on the operational run. Its almost as though it appears to be using an ensemble mean, if that is possible - and if it is, then that is not going to work for precip / snowfall. In the past (a few years ago) I always found it overestimated snowfall, however, there must have been some tweaks, as this season the opposite is the case and it bears no resemblance to reality (and I have been keeping a very close eye on all the forecasts for this part of France on our chatelweb.com website!) edit - I agree re. precip forecasts for the Alps - especially more than 48 hrs away - it is virtually impossible to pinpoint amounts with any accuracy - however that Euro4 is good once its in range.

Just to add to my post above - here is what the links was suggesting for my altitude http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Chatel/6day/bot 2cm. We have had 12cm so far and most since midnight - and all other forecasts, including the GFS raw data were suggesting 10 to 15cm at our altitude and 15 to 25cm for the upper half of the mountain. Not sure what SF.com is doing with the raw GFS data, but there is something wrong somewhere with the precip amounts it shows.

Should be an interesting week. Meteo France have the snow rain limit at mostly 800/900m for Tues /Wed and 1000m for Friday - though this could obviously change for the better or worse. Could be a lot of snow in the next week. Regarding the link that you posted - as its GFS - it flip flops all over the place every 6 hours but from my on the ground perspective, the precipitation amounts it forecasts are not to be relied upon. I'm finding the Euro4 model to be a decent indicator of precip for our altitude of 1200m - for example it was the only model that predicted a very light snowfall for our area last Sunday/Monday, whereas every other model and forecast was going for a substantial fall and it also picked up that the higher snowfall would be to our south in the Savoie, which was very impressive.

Seconded - big differences between the models for both the Mon/Tues snowfall for the Haute Savioe and for what follows during next week. GFS was very snowy on its 12Z yesterday - but much less so today, whereas ECM and MetO have potential this morning. Meteo Suisse have upgraded potential snowfall Mon / Tuesday overnight to 20 to 40cm from their raw data (last night was showing 5 to 10cm of snow equivalent precip) and Meteo France updates appear to be good for Mon / Tuesday - so there is the chance of a very useful snowfall. On the mountain, it has been an incredibly mild week, but the snow is holding up remarkably well. On Thursday evening, it was between 8c and 9c on our balcony at bedtime - under cloud cover. Since then, clear skies have led to piste refreezes, despite air temps still generally above 0c.

Yep, that's fair comment. Presumably it also makes a difference if they have a member on the ground in a particular resort. One thing I should also have mentioned is that it is probably better that there is an underestimation of snowfall rather than over - as the one thing I find from reporting from here is that when it come to snow, people suddenly get fishermen's syndrome- 10cm suddenly magically becomes 20cm etc etc

Not sure I trust their updates - eg for here they say we received 30 cm on 25/26 - when we actually got nearer 45cm at 1200m (hand measured at various intervals during the day!) and a lot more higher up the mountain! That is quite a margin of error. http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/snowreports/snowreport.aspx?resort=Chatel&swqsResortGo=Go#.Ur_pyIeYbIU

Nice one!

It seems to have been missed on this thread but .... "Updated: 10.30am Friday 27 December 2013 – Record-breaking snowfall for parts of the southern Alps… Snowfall figures are prone to overstatement, but it would be no exaggeration to say that parts of southern Switzerland and northern Italy are emerging from one of the greatest snow storms ever witnessed in the Alps..." more info from www.weathertoski.co.uk

Yep - it has been snowing above about 1700m since yesterday morning and there was 30 to 35cm fresh at 1800m / 2000m this morning (measured) and snow level dropped overnight to resort level of 1200m, where there is about 12cm to 13cm of fresh and it is still snowing moderately as I type. GFS precipitation forecasts via the online automated sites have been a disaster for this snowfall.

Yep - the Pre-La-Joux sector of Chatel is partially opening this weekend. I have heard that Avoriaz is not opening - but that is not definite. I went to Pre-La-Joux this afternoon and the bottom of the piste now looks in good shape with a lot of snowmaking going on. Snowfall for this Friday night / Saturday morning looks light with Meteo France suggesting 3.5cm to 6cm and snow-forecast .com 4cm. Must admit I thought the front bringing this potential snow would produce a bit more than that - but we shall see... Bottom of Rochassons in Chatel this afternoon - a few people had skinned up the piste ...

have a look at www.chatelweb.com

After the heavy snow that fell to low altitudes to our west yesterday (St. Etienne, Clermont etc) it is our turn this morning in Chablais as it has been snowing all morning (moderate to heavy) and we currently have about 12cm of lying snow on our postbox here at 1200m in Chatel. Current temp -1.7C.

Its a beautiful start to the day here in Chatel at 1200m. Photo taken a few minutes ago towards the Linga ski area. Upper runs have some good coverage in places, but hopefully this week we may see the runs filling in nicely down to resort level.

A dusting (1 to 2cm) at resort level in Chatel last night (1200m) - looks like we missed out on a decent fall, but the mountains look wonderful today and the rooves are white. There is plenty of snow on the upper half of the mountain, though it does look like being a fairly mild weekend here. Chance of snow next Tues / Wed and then we may join in with the colder air that will be arriving in the UK. Latest webcam image http://www.chatelweb.com/webcam.php

Thanks! Will post more updates as and when (if) the more important snowfalls arrive, as we head through November and into the ski season itself.

Hi All First post on Netweather. Am based out in Chatel, Haute Savoie. Autumn turned dramatically to winter at the end of last week! We had an early set of snowfalls starting on Thursday afternoon to Friday morning, up to 10cm of wet snow on favoured surfaces at 1200m, 20cm at 1400m and more higher up. Further snow fell on Friday night at 1200m and again for a time on Saturday evening, before it turned to rain overnight. Much milder conditions followed on Sunday and it is mild this morning with the snow thawing at all visible levels from our apartment. Looks like staying mild now for the next week to 10 days at least. Here are some photos from the snowfall. First 2 photos are at 1400m on Friday and the rest taken from apartment balcony at 1200m on Saturday morning.