After a very cold and windy weekend in the Swiss Alps most of Switzerland is covered under a blanket of snow at the moment. Close to 10cm fell even in the lowlands over the last 24hours and up to 50cm has fallen in the last three days in some parts of Central Switzerland . It is looking like most areas over about 1000m altitude will have a white Christmas, but with warm temperatures and Föhn forecast for Tuesday (22nd) and Thursday(24th) of this week we can expect to see some rain and warmer temperatures which may melt the snow. The weather over the next days is looking very changeable right across the Alps, areas like Andermatt should get quite a lot of snow but with strong winds making the Avalanche risk quite high, and maybe even forcing some resorts to close lifts. Other areas will experience rain up to quite high altitudes.
The Föhn should break down late on Thursday allowing the temperatures to drop. With lower temperatures and some precipitation expected many areas might experience fresh snow overnight in the 24th to secure a white christmas. Unfortunatley the weather will remain cloudy and perhaps snowing for Christmas day, with the earliest possibility of some sunshine being 26th December in the more southern valleys of the North side of the Alps and on the South side of the Alps.
Andermatt seems to be one of the resorts getting the most snow over the next few days. With a clearance in the weather currently foretasted for Dec 26th this could be a good day for powder hounds in this area. Areas of Graubunden such as Davos and Lenzerheide should have some sunshine tomorrow (Tuesday 22nd December) but it is also likely to be windy.
Currently it is anybodies guess where the best weather will be found for anyone wishing to go into the mountains on Christmas Day.
