28th October 2025
Last modified on October 31st, 2025
More than 1m of autumn snow has fallen in places in the Alps. Verbier has announced it is opening some slopes this weekend. UPDATED
There is now clearer weather in the Alps and the temperature has risen with the freezing level now at about 2,500m.
“Another weather front moved through the Alps last night bringing rain and high-altitude snow to western regions, including the French Alps, the western Swiss Alps and the western Italian Alps,” said Fraser Wilkin from weathertoski.co.uk on Thursday 30th October.
“Another 10-30cm of new snow fell in resorts including Tignes, Val d’Isère, Chamonix and Cervinia.
“The eastern Alps (e.g. Austria) missed out this time around.
“The next storm of any significance will cross the Alps on Sunday, delivering light to moderate snowfall at altitude across many regions with a rain/snow limit between 1600m and 2200m.
“This time it looks like Austria will see, the most snow with around 15-20cm forecast above 2000m in Obertauern.”
It will very mild at the start of November with no significant snow in the forecast.
The Swiss resort of Verbier has announced it is opening this Saturday and taking advantage of the recent snow.
It will be on non-glacier terrain.
“For the past few days, the peaks of Verbier have been adorned with a magnificent white blanket, with over 40 cm of fresh snow at Lac des Vaux,” said a statement from the resort.
“The 2025/2026 winter season can therefore officially begin in ideal conditions.”
Starting this Saturday, 1st November, the Lac des Vaux sector will be open, allowing skiers & snowboarders to make their first turns of the season.
Throughout November, the ski area will be open only on weekends, before daily openings begin on 29th November 2025.
There was some ferocious weather last week in some parts of the Alps as multiple storms hit.
Rain at low levels and snow higher up, with the freezing level down to around 1,200m at times.
Tignes in France probably saw the most recent snow with well over 1m falling at altitude.
This is what it looked like in Tignes as the storm delivered.
Snow in Tignes, France. Photo credit Meteo Expert Savoie.
See here for a recently posted article about the season ahead in Tignes
Nearby Val Thorens has also done well with the sun now out as the storms have passed.
PlanetSKI will be in Val Thorens as the resort opens at the end of November, so fingers cross some of the snow remains at the top of the resort at 3,200m.
We reported on the 5 days of snow that started last week in this PlanetSKI article:
Resorts in Austria also saw the fresh snow and there are several glacier areas in Austria that are open.
Here’s Stubai near Innsbruck that received 30cm of fresh snow and is set to open more runs:
Glacier ski areas currently open in the Alps:
- Austria: Pitztal, Hintertux, Stubai, Soelden, Kaunertal, Kitzsteinhorn & Molltal.
- Italy: Passo Stelvio, Cervinia & Val Senalis.
- Switzerland: Zermatt, Saas-Fee, Titlis Glacier (Engleberg) & Diavolezza Glacier (St Moritz).
Davos in Switzerland has opened some cross-country trails and its fellow Swiss resort of Adelboden followed suit last weekend.
There are several areas open in Scandinavia, including Levi and Ruka in Finland.
So, what does all the fresh snow mean for the coming winter?
Not much really according to the alpine snow expert Fraser Wilkin from weathertoski.co.uk.
“As for what it means for the coming ski season, it is still not much unfortunately,” said Fraser.
“Were another big storm cycle to follow this, there would be a good chance that a firm base would be consolidated at altitude in some ski resorts.
“However, the weather is set to turn much milder from Tuesday onwards.
“Snow is likely to remain for some time at higher altitudes in those resorts fortunate enough to have received big dumps over the last few days (e.g. Tignes), but any low-lying snow will quickly melt.
“This will be exacerbated by the Foehn, which will make an appearance in the central/northern Alps mid-week.
In short, this storm is great news for the glacier ski areas and could still be of considerable benefit to some higher resorts as they approach the main part of the season in a month or so time.
“For the vast majority of resorts, however, it won’t make any material difference.”
However it has been great to see the snow and get us skiers and snowboarders in the mood for winter.
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