© Val Thorens
Settled weather looks set to continue this week
7-day forecast for the week of 12th February 2018
The period of settled weather looks set to continue in the main this week in the Alps, although winds will be a little bit stronger than of late. A light dusting of snow is likely for Monday morning and then a further snowfall of around 10cm is forecast for Tuesday night, which will provide a nice little mid-week top up. Around 20cm is forecast for Saturday.
The all-important Jetstream is still in place over the Iberian Peninsula, as it has been for the past 7 to 10 days. This location to the south of Central Europe has contributed to the cold temperatures of late. The two sunniest days of the week look like being Tuesday and Wednesday but temperatures will remain cold until Thursday, when an area of high pressure and shifting Jetstream, takes over and sees a dramatic increase in temperature. From a high of around -5ºC on Wednesday by Thursday afternoon, temperatures in Meribel will have soared to a spring-like +5ºC. This is due to a northerly shift in the Jetstream from the Iberian Peninsula up to Central Europe.
A large area of low pressure currently sits in the Atlantic and should hopefully head towards Scandinavia and drag up the high pressure that currently stays towards the Azores towards us. This should bring some nice weather towards the end of the week. The freeze height looks set to stay at around 1000 metres on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before rising dramatically to around 2000 metres by Thursday morning.
Monday
Winds will increase overnight to around 20kmph from the North before dropping off overnight into Tuesday. A light dusting of snow will fizzle out by around lunchtime. It will be another cold day with highs of around -8ºC and this will feel more like -15ºC in the northerly winds. A largely cloudy day.
Tuesday
A gloriously sunny but cold day with very light winds, having dropped overnight to around 5kmph from the north. Highs of around -5ºC but with little wind-chill to add to this. A lovely day for a lunch up on the hill. A light snowfall overnight into Wednesday with around 10cm likely to fall.
Wednesday
Another sunny day, so grab a deck chair! Winds will again be light at around 4kmph from the north and, after the light snowfall, conditions should be fantastic. It will remain cold with afternoon temperatures of around -4ºC.
Thursday
A much warmer day than of late with temperatures rising by the afternoon to around +6ºC. Winds will remain light but will be more variable in their direction. Largely cloudy with the possibility of some sunny intervals late in the afternoon.
Friday
The area of high pressure that lies over the Azores early in the week looks set to control the weather towards the end of the week and temperature will remain well above zero. A largely sunny day with light winds and warm temperatures, it should be another lovely day to grab a deck chair up on the hill. Daytime highs in resort of around +5ºC.
Saturday
A potentially snowy day with around 20cm likely to fall. The varying freeze height, due in the main to the high pressure, may lead to variable snowfall conditions and it may even fall as rain at lower elevations. Winds veering to the south and increasing to around 12kmph. The snow will be heaviest from lunchtime onwards
Sunday
The snow is likely to fizzle out overnight and sunny intervals are likely by the afternoon as the cloud dissipates, with temperatures of around +1ºC and light northerly winds (4kmph).
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