This weekend, we even finally saw rays of sunshine again for the first time since the beginning of the month. “The sun made a small reappearance in the center of the country after a long absence of almost a week in the capital. If we analyze this first decade of November, despite lasting anticyclonic conditions, the brightness was generally particularly low over a large part of the country. The cause is little wind and a lot of humidity trapped in the lower layers of the atmosphere, the anticyclone pinning it close to the ground with, as a result, days dominated by gray weather.explains Pascal Mormal, meteorologist at IRM. On the other hand, above the inversion limit, the sun sometimes shone generously as at Mont-Rigi with 35h35 min, or practically seven times more than in Uccle where we had to be content with 5h12 min in these first ten days of November. Also note that, since October 22, it has rained very little in the country. In Uccle, only 4.5 mm were collected by the rain gauge, including the small millimeter that fell this Monday morning. Little rain on the agenda this week before the more marked return of precipitation at the end of the weekend and next week, probably accompanied at least temporarily by snow in Haute Ardenne.“
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Winter is upon us, and that’s pretty normal for this time of year. What is less clear is the absence of snow in the mountain ranges until Tuesday morning. “Unusual to say the least for November 9, near Val Thorens, one of the highest ski resorts in Europe, the Mont de la Chambre located at an altitude of 2,850 m, as well as the Aiguille du Fruit perched at 3,051 m are still completely snow-freewrote Pascal Mormal this weekend. Thanks to the descent of currents of polar origin, the situation should begin to improve from the beginning of next week. For the future, a possible intensification of snowfall could be expected around November 18, with this time snowfall which could also concern the mid-mountains and why not our Belgian Ardennes, but this still requires confirmation.“
The good news for skiers is that the snow finally arrived this Tuesday. This will not be enough to open the slopes in the coming days, and the launch of the season, in around ten days in Val Thorens, for example, is of course threatened by the lack of snow. The situation over the next few days could save the day, but it still needs to be not too mild afterwards for the white coat to hold up.
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But much more than for skiers, having snow in the mountains is in everyone’s interest. “Even in the most optimistic scenarios, where the planet would reach carbon neutrality by 2050, experts predict the disappearance of glaciers in France, except at very high altitudes.recalls the French Ministry of Ecological Transition. Beyond the melting of the ice, climate change accentuates the occurrence of natural risks that are already omnipresent in the mountains. Floods, droughts, soil erosion can also increase the risk of floods and torrential lava, rock falls, avalanches, etc. and their consequences on traffic routes and territories.“
