Tag Archives: alpine weather

Alpine weather forecast

We often get asked what the weather is like in the Alps. And where we get our forecast from. There are loads of resources available. I rarely use just one, I get used to putting them together to get an overview of the situation.

Our favourite forecast is from an amateur forecaster in Chamonix, it’s good for most of the Haute Savoie. We find it works fine in St Gervais, Samoens and Morzine too.

http://chamonix-meteo.com/bul/metPreMatFr.php taken from the http://chamonix-meteo.com/ website.

We often use Snow-Forecast for long term trends, it’s free up until 6 days however don’t get too hung up on the actual numbers. It should be renamed rain-forecast in the summer.

http://www.snow-forecast.com/

And then MeteoBlue, this goes into more depth and forecasts further into the future.

https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/forecast/meteogramfive/morzine_france_2991630

If you want to get back to basics then there is always the pressure charts. The best are probably from the Met Office

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/surface-pressure/

For a more micro idea of the current rain/snow there is a real time radar, this is great for picking dry periods between showers.

http://www.landi.ch/fra/0804_niederschlagsradar.asp

Webcams in the Haute Savoie.

When things are a bit grey in the valleys, we use the webcams to see what is happening on the mountain!

The Lindarets Webcam http://m.webcam-hd.com/vallee-d-aulps/les-lindarets

The plateau at La Grande Terche http://m.webcam-hd.com/vallee-d-aulps/plateau-st-jean-d-aulps/

The summit (Sommet des Tetes) at La Grande Terche http://m.webcam-hd.com/vallee-d-aulps/roc-d-enfer

Various webcams at Avoriaz http://www.avoriaz.com/en/discovering/interactive-tour/webcams

All the webcams in Chamonix http://www.chamonix.com/webcam,12,en.html

And these ones at the end of a high valley on the Italian side of Mt Blanc. http://www.comune.valsavarenche.ao.it/it/web-cam

When there is a thunderstorm it can be fun seeing where the lightning is striking. This site shows the real-time strikes and is very accurate.

https://www.lightningmaps.org/