Light snow falling at the top of Zermatt-Cervenia on August 21, 2026. | Photo: the_ski_instructor Instagram
The whole of Western Europe is finally approaching the tail end of quite possibly its hottest summer ever. According to the United Nations, the region saw its hottest June ever, as average temperatures soared to over 20°C (68°F), more than 3°C above the already historically high 30-year average. July did not offer much reprieve either, as Super El Niño-related heating pushed temperatures to an average of 22.48°C (72.5°F), making it the second-warmest July in recorded history. According to Copernicus, Western Europe had the hottest June-July period ever recorded.
Now, as we head into the dog days of August, we are finally seeing signs that the end to the seemingly endless slew of heat waves may be near.
On Friday, August 21, ski resorts across the Alps recorded their first meaningful snowfall since spring came to a close in late May. At Les Deux-Alpes, France, snow made an appearance in the form of a heavy dusting at elevations over 3,000m (9,842 ft). Zermatt, Switzerland, received perhaps the highest accumulations in the region, as the resort saw up to 8cm (3.1 in) of new snow at upper-mountain glacial areas.
August 21 dusting at Les Deux-Alps. | Photo: La Place du Village Facebook
It’s important to note that while late-August snow may seem like a truly remarkable event to many North American readers, cold summer weather patterns such as this are not at all anomalous in the Alps. A storm in July 2025 brought up to 30cm (11.8 in) of snow to areas such as Mont Blanc, with freezing levels reaching as low as 2,300m (7,546 ft). In September 2024, as much as 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) of snow fell across the European continent, with snow seen reaching as low as 1,000m (3,281 ft) in low-elevation areas of Czechia.
September 2024 snow at Fluela Pass, Switzerland. | Image: Fluela Pass Hospitz
That’s to say, this summer dusting is not the mark of a storied turnaround amid an unprecedented hot summer, but rather a glimpse of normalcy amid historic heat. In fact, this long-awaited snowfall comes less than a week after the final European ski resort was forced to close operations due to lack of snow.
Summer-skiing icons such as Austria’s Hintertux and Switzerland’s Saas-Fee were forced to shut their doors in early August, citing rapidly deteriorating glacial conditions due to blistering temperatures. Then Zermatt-Cervinia, one of the last true year-round ski resorts in the world, closed to the public, as a prolonged heatwave prevented the overnight freezing required for glacial maintenance.
Finally, on Saturday, August 15, the summer-only ski resort of Passo Stelvio in Italy, which typically operates all the way until November, closed until further notice. This makes August 2026 the first time in over 60 years that not a single kilometer of lift-accessed terrain is open to the public anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere.
So while these late-August winter flakes are no doubt a step in the right direction, and should get powder-deprived skiers and riders excited for the season to come, they by no means mark a dramatic turnaround from what has been a devastatingly hot summer in the Alps.
Snowfall on August 21 at the refuge on Mont-Blanc. | Photo: webcam Vallot refuge via La Place du Village