There has been further fresh snow in parts of the Alps, enhancing already near-perfect skiing in Austria, southern French resorts and Italy's Milky Way region. Switzerland received little new snow but temperatures have been so cold across the Alps that the snow has remained good. Yesterday saw a brief blip when the Val d'Isère thermometer rocketed from –26C to 2C within 12 hours, turning streets and lower slopes to slush before the freeze again quickly descended. Avalanche risk was still significant (3/5 yesterday) so off piste skiers are advised to heed local advice and not to ski on closed pistes.

Upper runs in Scotland's Glencoe (30-50cm) and Glenshee (30-40cm) have reasonable cover with even some off-piste powder to be found.

After new snow Austrian Obertauern (230-310cm) and Soelden (48-263cm) are fantastic, reported the Ski Club of Great Britain, despite some cloud. France had a mixture today, with new snow and bright sun in Isola (76-83cm), lift-closing winds in Tignes (130-200cm) and blue skies elsewhere. Good visibility, perfect snow and empty pistes made Grindelwald (46-266cm) typical of Switzerland. Many Italian resorts are superb with blue skies after new snow. There may be some light snow in the Alps on Friday, but this will not alter conditions greatly. Sunshine is expected to break through on Saturday, while another big chill (–20C) is forecast for the end of next week. Up to 20cm of new snow is expected in the Red Mountain area of Canada and in the US, Colorado (Vail and Breckenridge) should receive similar amounts.