Perisher, Australia, bashing pistes under the glow of the Aurora Australis!
Snow falls almost everywhere in the southern hemisphere, with great skiing in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Chile.
The Snow Headlines - August 15th
- More snowfall in New Zealand - best conditions of season to date.
- Most Australian centres fully open, or close to it.
- Argentinian ski areas post most terrain open, and deepest snow, on planet.
- US (and North American) 23-24 ski season finally ends this weekend.
- High temps on Alpine glaciers leads to rapid thawing and diminishing cover.
Snow forecast for New Zealand, and South America
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World Overview
Conditions are some of the best of the season to date across the southern hemisphere's ski slopes, most of which are fully open, with at least some fresh snowfall reported in almost all areas, heaviest in the Andes and New Zealand.
It is, at last, the final week of the 23-24 ski season in North America where the only centre still open from autumn last year says it will end its long season this Sunday. Across the Atlantic the hottest weeks of summer so far in the Alps have further impacted what's open at the few glacier centres currently open.
Southern Hemisphere
Australia
Australian ski areas continue to report some of the best conditions of the season so far with most of the country's resorts now 90-100% open - and several posting 1m+ bases.
There has not been much fresh snowfall this week but the resorts continue to reap the rewards of late July and early-August falls with overnight lows cold enough for snowmaking.
The southern hemisphere's largest ski area outside South America, Perisher, is virtually fully open with more than 60km of slopes available.
It's a similar scenario at Hotham, Falls Creek and Thredbo. Mount Buller, which only had 5% of its runs open this time last month, is now at nearly 70%.
The weather looks like it will remain dry into the weekend with plenty of sunshine, and temperatures in the -3C to +9C range.
New Zealand
New Zealand has got into a nice pattern of snow dumps every few days with blue sky days in between.
Some of the snow has been a little wet and heavy but the upside of that, ski areas say, is that it's good for run foundation. Snowfalls have been delivering lighter, fluffier snow towards the end of each dump, giving powder conditions the next day.
The only downsides in the past week have been strong winds closing some slopes at times and (when the wind drops), hill fog impacting visibility.
Mount Hutt has now got a 1.6m+ base, the deepest in the region and is one of half-a-dozen NZ resorts that are now fully open.
Vhangeable weather will continue into the weekend with a mix of sunny spells and cloud with some showers possible. Temperatures pretty cold, in the -5C to +4C range.
Argentina
It has been a good week in Argentina with some good snowfalls in the north of the country, clear skies further south although temperatures here have been lower – mostly below freezing and getting as low as -12C, for some lovely crisp ski days.
Most centres are 80-100% open.
The snowfall has boosted bases once again and the only centres worldwide with snow lying more than 3 metres deep are to be found here with Las Leñas posting the world's deepest at 3.3m (11 feet).
The southern hemisphere's largest ski area, Catedral, is posting 100km of slopes open, the most in the world at present.
Chile
It's been another mostly dry and frequently sunny week in Chile. Although the nights are still cold we are starting to see temperatures just edge up a degree or two.
Base depths remain good and are indeed just a little behind those of Argentinian centres just a few kilometres away over the border.
Similarly most Chilean areas are also 80-100% open with big names like Portillo and Valle Nevado fully open.
The coming week looks like more of the same weather but with a chance of some light-moderate fresh snowfalls on southerly ski centre slopes like those of Nevados de Chillan, already posting the joint deepest base in the country at just under 3m (along with La Parva and Valle Nevado).
Southern Africa
Lesotho's Afriski remains fully open although temperatures have continued to rise a little and are now typically in the 0C to +10C range, limiting further snowmaking opportunities. However, the snowpack remains complete and the main run fully open.
Another sunny week is forecast for the coming seven days.
Europe
Four glacier areas remain open to all in Austria, Italy and Switzerland.
There are two more centres open, but currently only to race teams for training, up in Norway at Folgefonn and Galdhopiggen.
It has been a very warm week in the Alps with temperatures getting well into double figures above freezing Celsius even at glacier level in the afternoon, with the result that open terrain continues to drop, and snow thickness on the glacial ice is diminishing fast.
It has been mostly sunny but there have been rain showers on the snow too.
Hintertux, Saas Fee, Zermatt (also accessible from Cervinia) and Passo Stelvio are each publishing between 4km and 10km of slopes open each.
North America
This coming Sunday 18th marks the end of North America's 23-34 season with the last area open, the Palmer snowfield on Mount Hood, above Timberline in Oregon, calling it a day on the continent's longest opening run – over nine months since last November.
The past few weeks have seen temperatures in the 80s Fahrenheit and the open terrain there shrink to little more than a mile.
Looking ahead, it's less than three months until the 24-25 season is expected to be underway on high slopes in Colorado and northerly slopes in Alberta, Canada.