A weather-model figure, worked out the same way for every ski area, and lower than what actually falls. Use it to compare ski areas, not against the resort’s own totals. How we measure →
Updated: 10 Nov 2026, 12:15
Elevation of the ski area’s centre point, taken from a digital elevation model. It is not the base-to-summit range.
We do not show a snow depth here. The weather model we use reports snow lying on the ground — it knows nothing about grooming or snowmaking, and it is not the base depth a ski area publishes. In Japan we can check our figures against 234 weather stations. Outside Japan there is nothing to check them against, so we do not print a number we have not verified.
| Date | Weather | Snow (cm) | Low / high (°C) | Wind (km/h) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 10 Nov | Showers | 0 | 8 to 12 | 16 |
| Wed 11 Nov | Showers | 0 | 7 to 12 | 9 |
| Thu 12 Nov | Rain | 0 | 6 to 10 | 8 |
| Fri 13 Nov | Snow | 1 | −1 to 6 | 11 |
| Sat 14 Nov | Fog | 0 | −1 to 3 | 7 |
| Sun 15 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | 1 to 12 | 9 |
| Mon 16 Nov | Rain | 0 | 4 to 11 | 9 |
The five add up to the 100-point Powder Score: more fresh snow, more on the way and colder air all push it up. How we measure
Gfellen-Finsterwald is a ski area in Switzerland, at about 1,146 m. Within 2.5 km of its centre the map shows 1 marked run and 1 lift (about 1.1 km of piste).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 169 cm of snowfall a season, 1,427th (tied) of 3,069 worldwide and 229th in Switzerland. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2017/18 (225 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2016/17 (106 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 54 cm.
Counted from the marked runs and lifts on the map, within 2.5 km of the centre of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Source: OpenStreetMap (ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Difficulty uses the European grades, which do not map onto North American green / blue / black.
Modelled from weather data the same way at all 3,069 ski areas we cover. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Within 50 km in a straight line. Ski areas in the same weather-model cell (about 30 km across) get the same figure.
| Ski area | Distance | Seasonal snowfall | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heiligkreuz - First | 6.1 km | 207 cm | 1081 |
| Langis - Glaubenberg | 7.1 km | 195 cm | 1194 |
| Eigenthal | 7.9 km | 136 cm | 1860 |
| Schüpfheim | 8.3 km | 169 cmsame grid cell | 1427 |
| Hergiswil - Langmattli | 12.0 km | 133 cm | 1909 |
The most snow falls in January. March brings 67% of January’s snowfall. That is a steeper fall than the median for ski areas in Switzerland (76%): the snow here is concentrated early in the season. In amount, March brings 36 cm, less than the median of 60 cm.
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 169 cm, and 7 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2016/17 with 106 cm; the biggest was 2017/18 with 225 cm (2.1 times as much).
Snowfall each winter (December–March total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.
The weather map, and where it sits among nearby ski areas.
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