Zermatt weather
The weather in Zermatt is tricky to predict! The ski area sits on the main alpine ridge that separates the north and south of the Alps, and the weather is largely affected by this and the high altitude. Clients will often ask for a forecast for the week, so a little basic weather knowledge is very handy to keep up the professional image we’re aiming to portray. Of course, you’re not always going to be 100% accurate, but nobody is!
There’s no single website that works every time for Zermatt but understanding a little about the geography and topography of the area can make interpreting forecasts a little easier. The popular snow sports sites like snowforecast.com are largely redundant (unless you enjoy being permanently disappointed!). These sites rely on modelling that doesn’t take in to account the microclimate that Zermatt sits in, so you’re better looking elsewhere.
As a rule of thumb, weather systems approaching with any kind of South direction are more likely to produce snow here than those that come from the North. This is because northerly systems (sometimes known as ‘Northern Stau’) tend to dump most of their precipitation in the Bernese Oberland and even as far as the Rhône valley, and often manifest themselves as overcast and windy weather in Zermatt. There are even instances when the northern part of the ski area (Rothorn) gets snow, but the southern part (Klein Matterhorn) remains dry with a northerly system. It’s cool if you can predict this and get the best conditions.
Westerly systems
These are the predominant weather system in the Alps. These can produce snowfall in Zermatt, but a lot depends on the size of the front. Ideally, for Zermatt to get a decent snowfall, a more southwesterly flow is favorable. However, like the Northern Stau, the moisture is often reduced by the time the system reaches Zermatt, having passed over some pretty big mountains to the West (think Mont Blanc etc.!).
That's s tough question to answer, the best bet is to keep an eye on the forecasts and have an idea where the weather systems that affect us come from and what know what to look for in the forecast?
Southerly systems
Southerlies are the most likely to produce snow in Zermatt, and they very often are the biggest snow events in any season. To the south of Zermatt, the Aosta valley in Italy will typically get the most snow with a southerly flow, but very often this will reach Zermatt too.
Weaker systems might only produce snow on the Cervinia side (it’s not unknown to see a meter of snow in Cervinia, but Zermatt remain dry), and the bigger systems will tend to reach over into Zermatt and further north (the Saas Fee valley also gets these snowfalls).
A ‘Retour d’Est’ or ‘Roffel’ in Swiss German is the best type of system in terms of snowfall. This is a phenomenon whereby a front swing around in the Mediterranean, picks up a load of moisture then heads north and chucks it down over the southern Alps (us included). If you see one of these on the forecast, it’s likely to be powder time, especially on the southern part of the ski area.
Which forecast is best?
Once you have a little understanding of the weather in Zermatt, one of the best places to look is the SLF forecast. This has the bonus of providing snowpack info if you’re venturing off piste.
For a more general forecast, the MeteoSwiss App is a great place to start. This also has decent wind forecast info, particularly for the higher passes (e.g. over to Italy)(Precipitation radar/prediction, wind forecast etc.)
Meteocentrale is also useful as part of an overview of the weather in the medium term
(Foehn & Bise winds)