The snow depth chart shows large parts of Greece having more snow than most of Europe

Some parts of Austria have had 3 metres (10ft) of snow so far this year. The return period for this amount of snow is somewhere between 30-100 years according to this BBC report

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46835677

Looking at data for Schmittenhoehe (which is near Zell-am-Zee) from Ogimet we can see that there has been 279mm of rain equivalent since 30 December, including 68mm in one day. This is almost 12 inches or 1 foot of rain. So that could easily translate to something around 10ft of snow.

http://www.ogimet.com/cgi-bin/gsynres?lang=en&ind=11340&ndays=30&ano=2019&mes=01&day=11&hora=09&ord=REV&Send=Send

St Anton is reporting 440cm at the summit station as of today, with another 50cm forecast on Sunday and 58cm on Monday.

 

Actually according to snow-forecast.com there's 189cm of new snow due between now and Monday night. Should be well over 5 metres of snow at the top of the mountain by then, even allowing for compaction.

 

 

 

I posted the same on NW a few days ago ( Ironic as I used St Anton as well )

Could it be a record?

Well my memory ( distant now ) - when I was at school I would look on Teletext at the weather ( 401-406 ) & on the menu was scottish ski resorts & europe-

The 3-4 years I looked 2 resorts always stuck in my mind for depth- Flaine & St Anton.

The deepest I ever saw for the top runs was about 650CM - This was the same year it was on the news for avalanches, it was quite a big thing then- I am guessing 1990 ish.

Actually 1988

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk/1988/mar/11/monarchy.fromthearchive

 

 

I posted the same on NW a few days ago ( Ironic as I used St Anton as well )

Could it be a record?

Well my memory ( distant now ) - when I was at school I would look on Teletext at the weather ( 401-406 ) & on the menu was scottish ski resorts & europe-

The 3-4 years I looked 2 resorts always stuck in my mind for depth- Flaine & St Anton.

The deepest I ever saw for the top runs was about 650CM - This was the same year it was on the news for avalanches, it was quite a big thing then- I am guessing 1990 ish.

Actually 1988

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk/1988/mar/11/monarchy.fromthearchive

That's odd because most of the late 1980s were fairly dreadful for snow in the Alps. On our 1990 school ski trip (which I didn't go on but friends did) they had to spend 2 hours in a bus every day to get to any snow. I went for the first time in 1991 and remember stepping off the coach in La Grave into waist deep snow - after we had been stuck outside the resort for hours waiting for the snowplough to clear the road! 

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The avalanche risk must be as extreme as it can get, due to the short period this has all arrived in, there has been very little chance to even assess what work might be done to make areas safe.
There was a huge avalanche a few years ago which largely destroyed a village on the 'safe' side of a valley by crossing the valley floor - which was barely considered possible.

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You went on a school ski trip to La Grave Rob

That's pretty hardcore skiing - respect to any school who takes trips there - they wouldn't get away with it now!

On topic, just returned from two weeks in the Tarentaise area and conditions aren't as bad as is being made out, it's just in comparison to the Eastern Alps that the lack of snow is noticed. Looks like the next couple of weeks could rectify this a little though starting tomorrow.

Latest snow depths at Austrian ski resorts

https://www.onthesnow.co.uk/austria/skireport.html

St Anton at 450cm

Loser Bergbahnen Altaussee has 490cm

Up to a further 100cm forecast in the next week in places, the heaviest snow expected tomorrow and Monday

https://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast/Austria/

 

 

I posted the same on NW a few days ago ( Ironic as I used St Anton as well )

Could it be a record?

Well my memory ( distant now ) - when I was at school I would look on Teletext at the weather ( 401-406 ) & on the menu was scottish ski resorts & europe-

The 3-4 years I looked 2 resorts always stuck in my mind for depth- Flaine & St Anton.

The deepest I ever saw for the top runs was about 650CM - This was the same year it was on the news for avalanches, it was quite a big thing then- I am guessing 1990 ish.

Actually 1988

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk/1988/mar/11/monarchy.fromthearchive

Ah Flaine. I have been there many times. The best was the January of 1999. It was the year that the European alps had copious snowfall and there was the serious avalanche in the Austrian Resort/town of Galtur. Anyway, we arrived the second weekend of January and it had just started snowing. It snowed all week. The pisteurs could not handle the level of snow, so much so that piste bashers were out during the day and we were skiing in waste deep snow on marked runs. Our instructor, a flaine local, said we were unlikely to ever see conditions like it again. I have been skiing in France every year since and haven’t yet. By the end of that season, they had had to evacuate the accommodation in the higher part of the flaine Resort on numerous occasions, due to avalanche risks. The snow depth at the top lift was over 600cm of compacted snow by April. Flaine is in its own bowl and has a micro climate perfect for copious snow, for a medium height Resort, it often has snow conditions rivalling those with much greater altitude. Great memories.

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I realise it is not the Alps but I often think that Capracotta In Italy looks good in the snowy and they have had a decent amount in the past week or so 

http://www.capracotta.com/files/cams/falconi/4CsPX6Ly.jpg 

 

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https://amz.nwstatic.co.uk/monthly_2019_01/144748296_cursnow_asiaeuropeSnowandIceChartEuropeandAsiaFriday11thJanuary2019.gif.899460fe71229fc1887f928c6bbe4300.gif 
Noticeable that the Low Countries plus Denmark, Southern Sweden, NW Poland and the Northern half of Germany plus almost all of France are snow free like us. I suspect that will change in the next couple of weeks.

You went on a school ski trip to La Grave Rob

That's pretty hardcore skiing - respect to any school who takes trips there - they wouldn't get away with it now!

Haha - we were staying in La Grave but skiing in Les 2 Alpes. I assume they got a cheap deal on the hotel.

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With so much snow in the northern Alps the tragedies begin to unfold. Sounds like they were skiing on a closed run so avoidable.

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My only skiing holiday was in Italy  a place called Aprica in the central Southernish alps. I took a peep at their snow conditions and it said 40cm on the slopes. The imbalance between different Alpine areas is amazing. 

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Big contrast across the alps from last year. I was in Avoriaz for a week in early April and they were at the tail end of an incredibly snowy winter. 6-7m of compacted snow on the pistes, and there was still fresh powder in the first half of the week.

Avoriaz is always relatively snowy - I think statistically the snowiest in the Alps - but that was freakish. This year, enough to ski on but very dry by comparison.

Above about 1,300m it’s really precipitation amounts rather than temperature that make the difference. Places like Flaine, Avoriaz or Val Thorens have snow no matter what.

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I've got an impressive photo for you all to come - I don't think I have ever seen such deep snow in Europe as this pic I'll post in a few moments. :-O

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This implies a snow depth of 25 to 30 feet. Incredible. You can see the chimneys of one house here and that's all thats visible of those houses.

 

 

 

This is in Austria.

 

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Snowing heavily again in Austria, have a look at some of these live cams

https://www.saalbach.com/en/live-info/livecams 

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Building standards will be getting a good test, large modern structures like sport and music venues perhaps most at risk.
A worst case scenario might be slight thaw and rain making loading even more extreme.

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I was looking at Saalbach (only picked it because I have been there) and the approach Road is closed due to avalanche danger

https://www.saalbach.com/en/service/info/arrival 

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Building standards will be getting a good test, large modern structures like sport and music venues perhaps most at risk.
A worst case scenario might be slight thaw and rain making loading even more extreme.

Hopefully in that region they know enough not to use flat roofs. but ones with enough of a camber to cause the snow to slide off if the weight becomes too great. Even in the UK, after a snowstorm in January 1982 the (I believe flat) roof of Sophia Gardens Pavilion in Cardiff. which was used for concerts and the like, collapsed under the weight of an estimated four feet of snow.

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