As the ski season enters its final weeks resorts in the Alps have finally seen the big snowfalls they’ve been awaiting all winter. There’s fresh snow almost everywhere, particularly abundant in the western Alps, especially France.

Several resorts have seen their base snow depths jump by over a metre compared to a week ago – putting them in good shape for spring and, looking further ahead, even summer glacier skiing. Inevitably the news isn’t all good, some lower areas have seen rain or heavy, wet snow and the avalanche risk is up again across Europe, with several fatal slides reported this week.

Elsewhere in Europe, Scandinavia has once again seen the best of the fresh snowfall and low temperatures. Scotland’s centres have had very cold weather too, and some snowfall. However it’s still not enough for much terrain – just a handful of slopes are in operation at Glenshee and the Lecht and a dozen at the Cairngorm.

Ski areas in the Pyrenees are suffering from the impacts of very mild temperatures which have led to some smaller, lower altitude French resorts closing early for the season this week. Bigger resorts in Andorra, including Soldeu, which is currently hosting the FIS Alpine World Cup Finals, are down to 50-60 per cent of their terrain open, but are soldiering on. In Eastern Europe it has been cold, windy and snowy at northerly resorts like Slovakia’s Jasna, and drier and sunnier in Bulgaria.

Across the Atlantic resorts are getting weary of digging out in the west, as yet more huge storms barrel in from the Pacific. The latest snowfall in the East, which has had a season more like the Alps, has been welcomed however. Conditions remain good across most Canadian ski areas too.

Use our tool below to find the latest conditions in your favourite resort and read the full forecast below.

France

France has seen some of the most dramatic jumps in snow depth over the last week. Tignes had been posting Europe’s deepest snow on its glacier all winter – now up to 3.9m. The La Rosière-La Thuile cross-border ski area has had more than a metre of fresh snow, but the avalanche danger is now high and the link was closed midweek.

The forecast

Dry weather is expected through the weekend. It will be quite mild with double-digit plus temps in valleys, and freeze-thaw conditions higher up.  There are early signs of snowfall returning next week.

Discover the best ski resorts in France with our guide

Austria

Most Austrian centres missed out on the big snowfalls further west, the exception being the Arlberg with Lech and St Anton both adding 50cm+ – the latter’s highest slopes, at Valluga, now the first in the country to post a 3m+ base. There was more widespread snowfall on Tuesday, but temperatures have also been mild and some low slopes have seen rain.

The forecast

Forecasts look mostly dry and sunny, with a small chance of light snowfall on Sunday. It will be very mild at lower elevations, surpassing 10ºc at 1,000m altitude.

Discover the best ski resorts in Austria with our guide

Italy

There has been plenty of fresh snowfall for western Italy this week, with Cervinia reporting 1.5m of new snow in 72 hours – good news for its spring skiing season into May. Ski areas further east had to wait until Tuesday for snowfall, receiving 10-30cm.

The forecast

A sunny end to the week is forecast across Italy. Warm daytime temperatures will continue, dropping back below freezing overnight above 2,000m.

Discover the best ski resorts in Italy with our guide

Switzerland

There have been big jumps in base snow depths thanks to repeated Swiss snow storms this week – Verbier’s upper slope base depth is up 80cm. Zermatt was cut off for much of Saturday by an avalanche on its railway line. Reflecting the current changing conditions, the resort’s statistics went from zero resort-level snow a week ago, to 50cm after the weekend falls – it is now back to 15cm. Glacier 3000 near Gstaad was closed for five days after a 1.6m accumulation – it reopened on Thursday.

The forecast

There’s a dry week ahead across the country, with temperatures getting warm  (+15ºC at 1,200m) in the afternoons on lower slopes, and freeze-thaw higher up.

Discover the best ski resorts in Switzerland with our guide

Canada

Conditions remain good across most Canadian ski areas. Whistler Blackcomb remains fully open and its base is nearly at 2.5m after another 50cm this week. Ski areas in Quebec, including the largest, Tremblant, also report good snows depths, fresh falls and 100 per cent of their slopes open.

The forecast

More snowfall in Quebec to end this week, then dry. The opposite in Alberta and BC, currently dry but snowfall returning next week. Temperatures mostly sub-zero but creeping a little into positive numbers now in the afternoons.

Discover the best ski resorts in Canada with our guide

USA

The incredible succession of huge storms moving in off the Pacific has brought still more heavy snowfall to the western US. There’s a sense of weariness as resorts like Heavenly and Mammoth dig out chairlifts once again. Over in the east storms have also brought over a foot of snow to New England resorts.

The forecast

The good news is there’s a bit of clear weather in the west, which will allow skiers and snowboarders to enjoy all that snow.

Discover the best ski resorts in the US with our guide