PeakWindow
Trends

What the snow record shows

Average snowpack depth by decade, for each region.

Method

One reanalysis record covers every region. Where a resort has a nearby snow station we calibrate against it. 39 resorts have no station, so we use the record uncorrected.

Either way we apply one constant factor across the whole record. A change between decades therefore reflects conditions, not which resorts happened to be recording.

Decades at either end of a record are often incomplete. We label them by the years they actually cover.

Rows are sorted by the change between the first and last decade shown. Those two are frequently the thinnest buckets in the record.

Groups labelled "Other" pool resorts whose own region is too small to report alone. Their members can be far apart.

40cm50cm60cm70cm80cm90cm100cm110cm120cm130cm140cm150cm160cm1950s1960s1970s1980s1990s2000s2010s2020sOther Swiss AlpsGraubündenMaurienne
Average snow depth across the season13 regions · steepest and shallowest named
13 of 13

Alpine regions hold less snow now than in their first decade on record.

−21.0 cm

Median change in average snow depth, first decade on record to most recent.

16

Of these movements clear a significance test. The rest describe the record, not a conclusion.

Region
First decade on record → most recent
0cm40cm80cm120cm160cm
Change cm
CH5 of 5 resorts
1950s
2020–25
138.7cm · 1950s
110.0cm · 2020–25
28.7
CH10 of 10 resorts
1950s
2020–25
115.3cm · 1950s
91.3cm · 2020–25
24.0
CH8 of 8 resorts
1950s
2020–25
126.8cm · 1950s
104.2cm · 2020–25
22.6
FR7 of 7 resorts
1950s
2020–25
92.3cm · 1950s
69.7cm · 2020–25
22.6
IT11 of 11 resorts
1950s
2020–25
93.5cm · 1950s
72.4cm · 2020–25
21.1
AT12 of 12 resorts
1950s
2020–25
102.9cm · 1950s
81.8cm · 2020–25
21.1
FR17 of 17 resorts
1950s
2020–25
97.2cm · 1950s
76.2cm · 2020–25
21.0
IT6 of 6 resorts
1950s
2020–25
128.5cm · 1950s
108.0cm · 2020–25
20.5
CH13 of 13 resorts
1950s
2020–25
116.8cm · 1950s
96.5cm · 2020–25
20.3
AT4 of 4 resorts
1950s
2020–25
88.5cm · 1950s
70.1cm · 2020–25
18.4
FR5 of 5 resorts
1950s
2020–25
78.3cm · 1950s
65.4cm · 2020–25
12.9
FR17 of 17 resorts
1950s
2020–25
89.6cm · 1950s
81.6cm · 2020–25
8.0
FR4 of 4 resorts
1950s
2020–25
53.2cm · 1950s
47.4cm · 2020–25
5.8
Hover a row for exact figures
0cm40cm80cm120cm160cm

Each row shows a region's first and most recent decade. The chart above carries the decades in between.

Covers 119 of 122 resorts across France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. Three are absent because their regions are too small to test on their own: Damüls-Mellau, Lech am Arlberg and Schladming.