Given the mild weather in the UK at the moment I thought it would be interesting to start a thread discussing the options for those of us who want to see some snow this winter. What are the best options? Of course factors other than snow depth enter the equation. Cost, flight time, accommodation quality and entertainment at the destination may all be considerations. At the cheap and cheerful end of the spectrum a trip to your nearest snow dome (Hemel Hempstead for me) could be the ticket. For the more adventurous Alaska may fit the bill. So what are your suggestions?

Closest driveable destination with reliable snow at village/town level - i.e. not just up a mountain on a ski lift - would I think be Flaine (1,600m asl, 8 hrs 19 mins from Calais) followed by Avoriaz (1,800m asl, 8 hrs 36 although you could drive to Morzine in 8:19 and take the cable car).

I think the answers would be the same by plane too - both resorts very close to Geneva which is only a 1.15 hr flight from LCY, but still requires a drive from the airport. I don't think there are any reliably snowy cities with airports that would beat this. Moscow the closest I think, at 4 or so hours (or possibly Kiruna in Sweden).

Nowhere in the British Isles has reliable snow at village level. But presumably Cairngorms or Nevis range would be the closest actual snow, via car or Caledonian sleeper which goes to both Aviemore and Fort William. From London by car it's pretty close between Aviemore and Flaine assuming an hour and a quarter drive to Folkestone and hour and half in total doing the tunnel plus waits.

Time annd money permitting. I'd go to Irkutsk deep in Russia near Lake Baikal.

Temps -15 to -20 and uniform and decent snow cover.

No mild dank westerlies there.

Finland. For guaranteed snow, skiing (maybe not challenging enough for good skiiers, but great for beginners and families), cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, reindeer-drawn sleighs, husky rides, ice fishing and the Northern Lights.

We've been to Ruka twice, in 2016 and 2018, in February half term holidays, but in fact if you can get there before then, now that Christmas is dying down, the second half of this month will be very quiet, and relatively cheap. We stayed in RukaSuites both times, but there are many other options too.

https://www.ruka.fi/en/rukasuites

The accommodation is feet away from the ski lifts, and lots of restaurants and bars. There is also a great English-speaking ski school, ski hire, and all of that can be booked online independently.

The first time we went, we went on a Crystal Ski package, flying from Gatwick to the nearby airport at Kuusamo. Flights once a week from Gatwick and Manchester. The second time, we booked independently, and flew FinnAir to Kuusamo via Helsinki.

We're not going this year because we're off to the Caribbean at the end of March. I think we were spoilt with snow in each of the last two winters; I'm really missing my snow fix this winter!

They recently had some exceptionally mild weather in Finland, which caused the snow to fall off the trees, but it will come back. There's still 60cm of snow on the ground, though. Just before Christmas the place looked absolutely amazing!

https://www.vuosaariwebcam.com/ruka/archive-yr.php

I was going to say Scandinavia but no looked at temps in Oslo and it's +4c Saint Petersburg and it's +3c and in Moscow it's +1c. Looked across the Atlantic fat NYC and it's +8c and expected to reach +20c this Saturday. So no luck there or at the worlds snowiest city Buffalo. The Alps have been a write off same for Andorra and Scottish ski resorts.

Looked at Fairbanks Alaska temps are down to -28c. Looked at Yellowknife NWT - Northern Canada - temps are down to -35c. - So Northern Canada and Alaska is the place to be for cold and snow.

I also found this article very informative re the polar vortex:
https://www.accuweather.com/en/winter-weather/whats-happening-with-the-polar-vortex-this-year/655523

1.1 to 1.6 metres of snow currenly across most of the Italian Dolomite resorts such as Val Gardena, Alta Badia, Val Di Fassa, Arraba etc 

Current situation, updated daily

https://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/ims/ims_gif/DATA/cursnow_asiaeurope.gif

 Try Sapporo for next month's ice festival? 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapporo_Snow_Festival

temps at or below zero for the next fortnight, though they also had unseasonal warmth earlier

https://www.accuweather.com/en/jp/sapporo-shi/223985/january-weather/223985

said 'snow starting in 31 minutes' when I looked a moment ago

1.1 to 1.6 metres of snow currenly across most of the Italian Dolomite resorts such as Val Gardena, Alta Badia, Val Di Fassa, Arraba etc 

But temps are well above freezing by day - making conditions very slushy and prone to avalanches!

I was going to say Scandinavia but no looked at temps in Oslo and it's +4c Saint Petersburg and it's +3c and in Moscow it's +1c. 

Oslo is relatively south and near the North Sea. In Ruka, that I mentioned above, it's currently -3C in the resort and -5C on top of the mountain.

https://www.ruka.fi/en/weather

Up in the north of Finnish Lapland it's currently -14C.

https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/

Quebec is a good option if you want to see copious amounts of snow. Many parts of Ontario are good provided you get a few hours north of Toronto - up towards Lake Huron, for example.

Current snow depths across North America

Given the mild weather in the UK at the moment I thought it would be interesting to start a thread discussing the options for those of us who want to see some snow this winter. What are the best options? Of course factors other than snow depth enter the equation. Cost, flight time, accommodation quality and entertainment at the destination may all be considerations. At the cheap and cheerful end of the spectrum a trip to your nearest snow dome (Hemel Hempstead for me) could be the ticket. For the more adventurous Alaska may fit the bill. So what are your suggestions?

 

Yate, near Bristol

 

Oslo is relatively south and near the North Sea. In Ruka, that I mentioned above, it's currently -3C in the resort and -5C on top of the mountain.

https://www.ruka.fi/en/weather

Up in the north of Finnish Lapland it's currently -14C.

https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/

Quite however, the average January temperature should be -15c for Ruka and for Helsinki should be -5c and all of Finland is well above average in terms of temperatures and may get exceptionally mild later this week. 

Helsinki could reach +7 or 8c that's some 10c to 15c above the seasonal average for January:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/658225

Been a good season for snow in northern Norway..

Tromso has seen huge amounts with some of it's earliest deepest fall's.

Yes Kirkenes also a good place to go for snow lovers, lovely part of the world is northern Norway

You could try the suburbs of Athens, this below was taken earlier today. The mountains of Crete have also several meters of snow (not much skiing though). Northern Finland has guaranteed snow during Nov-Apr with the best conditions in March. Flights to Kittila and nice log cabins in Akaslompolo are pretty affordable. https://destinationlapland.com/?lang=en

You could try the suburbs of Athens, this below was taken earlier today. The mountains of Crete have also several meters of snow (not much skiing though). Northern Finland has guaranteed snow during Nov-Apr with the best conditions in March. Flights to Kittila and nice log cabins in Akaslompolo are pretty affordable. https://destinationlapland.com/?lang=en

That's actually the town of Vilia, which is some way out of Athens at 500m asl. The suburbs of Athens themselves are getting a few flakes at higher elevations, but webcams all appear grey/green rather than white. Nevertheless, still impressive, and typical that Greece gets the snow rather than us!

https://weather-club.gr/main/index.php?/topic/195-%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%B5%CF%83-%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%87%CF%85%CF%81%CE%B7%CF%83-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%BA%CE%BF%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%B1%CF%83-%CE%B7%CF%86%CE%B1%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B9%CF%89%CE%BD%CE%B1%CF%83-5-8-%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%AF%CE%BF%CF%85-2020/page/65/

 

That's actually the town of Vilia, which is some way out of Athens at 500m asl. The suburbs of Athens themselves are getting a few flakes at higher elevations, but webcams all appear grey/green rather than white. Nevertheless, still impressive, and typical that Greece gets the snow rather than us!

https://weather-club.gr/main/index.php?/topic/195-%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%B5%CF%83-%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%87%CF%85%CF%81%CE%B7%CF%83-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%BA%CE%BF%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%B1%CF%83-%CE%B7%CF%86%CE%B1%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B9%CF%89%CE%BD%CE%B1%CF%83-5-8-%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%AF%CE%BF%CF%85-2020/page/65/

Yes, snow levels there are currently around 500m in Athens and 900m in Crete. They did have snow at sea level in Athens during Xmas. 

https://www.weathertoski.co.uk/ is worth a look.