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Guides
In July 1961, Walter Bonatti and his team of climbers attempted the daring Central Pillar of Freney on Mont Blanc, an unclimbed and highly ambitious route. What followed was one of the darkest chapters in mountaineering history. A sudden and violent storm trapped the team on the wall for six nights, battering them with relentless wind, snow - they were even struck by lightning.
Four of the climbers died from exhaustion and pure exposure to the elements before they could be rescued. The tragedy shocked the climbing community, and the counties of France and Italy as a whole - and served as a stark reminder of the power of weather in the mountains.
At the time, there was little way to anticipate such deadly weather, but today, we have tools that can help climbers, skiers and hikers avoid these situations. Not all apps are equal, though, and choosing the right one can make all the difference.
In this post, we’ll explore the best weather apps for different regions in the Alps, helping you stay informed and prepared so you can focus on enjoying the mountains safely.
Note: this is a follow-up to our FATMAP replacements view. If you haven't read it, you can read it here.
1. General Tips
2. Best Cross Border Apps for the Alps
3. Best Mountain Weather Forecasts for the French Alps
4. Best Mountain Weather Forecasts for the Swiss Alps
5. Best Mountain Weather Forecasts for the Italian Alps
6. Best Mountain Weather Forecasts for the Austrian Alps
7. Best Mountain Weather Forecasts for the Slovenian Alps - coming soon
Tip #1 - Not your phone
While the default weather apps on your Apple or Android device might be convenient, they often lack the precision needed for mountain environments. These apps typically aggregate generalised data that doesn’t account for the complex weather systems of the Alps. As a result, their forecasts can be overly broad and unreliable. This is a warning - you WILL miss out on bluebird powder days if you stay in bed because your weather app tells you it'll be cloudy. Temperatures are also misrepresented and can lead to very variable accuracy on rain snow limits.
Tip #2 - Unless you are an amateur forecaster, use mountain forecasts written by humans.
Many weather models produce a range of different results, but when a computer processes them, the forecast can be overly generic and lack context, particularly in mountain environments. A human forecaster, however, adds analysis, highlights key trends, and provides insights on reliability, making for a much clearer and more useful forecast. We recommend many of these below.
Windy is a high-resolution weather visualisation tool that allows you to view multiple forecast models, including ECMWF, GFS, ICON. Windy then displays this data in a beautiful map which is extremely easy to use and has so many different customisation options. You can use this to compare snowfall forecasts with multiple different models, check wind speeds at different altitudes (crucial for avalanche risk), and compare forecast models to spot trends and uncertainties. While it’s a great tool for experienced users, it still requires interpretation and knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of each model - so combining it with human-written forecasts is often the best approach. Windy also has a weather radar feature which is useful when you are in the mountain - but it only has +-1 hour in the free version.
Yr.no, run by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, is one of the most reliable free weather apps. It is said that it incorporates local terrain effects better than most generic weather apps. Due to its good reputation, if there is a generic weather app we would recommend to you, it would probably be this one, unless you are able to use a country-specific app.
OpenSnow is a snowsports-specific subscription service which delivers decent quality written forecasts for many locations. Historically they were only focused on the US but this has changed with them offering good forecasts for the Alps too.
Weather models can be accessed for free, but not everyone has time to learn to interpret them. The positive of OpenSnow is that it tailors this weather forecasting to snowfall and ski resorts, interpreting the models for you. It also allows you to add all your ski resort locations and has great UI to compare future snowfall for each location, at a glance.
Whether or not you would like to pay 34.99 USD per year (33.75 EUR) for these features is up to you.
If you don't have the money, use the regional and country specific forecasts which we recommend in the next section of this article.
It seems that they offer a summary every few days of the Alps/Europe as a whole: the link is here, and it's worth reading to get a general picture.
MeteoBlue is recommended due to two things -
1. its Meteograms, which give a great overview of the upcoming weather. What is particularly interesting for those who venture to high altitude is the cloud altitude and wind gusts. If the cloud tops out at 2000m altitude, you can plan your day to stay above this altitude to get the best visibility.
and 2. its MultiModel, which is a feature that combines forecasts from multiple weather models, displaying them in a single graph to show variation and reliability. Instead of relying on just one model (like GFS or ECMWF), it aggregates several, including NEMS, ECMWF, GFS, ICON, and others, helping users see the range of possible outcomes. For skiers and mountaineers, this is useful because it highlights forecast uncertainty—if all models agree, the forecast is likely reliable, but if they diverge, conditions are less predictable. This helps with better decision-making in dynamic mountain environments.
It also has a rain radar feature, and just general weather forecasting too.
Keep in mind that this is all automated and nothing here is human-interpreted.
Although directly targeted at paragliders, this app gives a very good representation of different wind speeds and directions at different altitudes, which can give you an idea of the evolving avalanche risk, and also whether your trip to the high mountains is a fun idea or not when you are likely to face 100km/h winds.
In the past we would have recommended FATMAP, as it also contained good weather visualisations in the pro version. However, since FATMAP is no longer around, we have had to make do with other options. We have compiled a list of the best FATMAP alternatives which you can read here.
No article would be complete without recommending our own service, of course. Oak is an app used to connect with the local mountain community, find mountain partners, log activities and check out conditions. It is being used by thousands of people in the Alps and chances are, if you ask in the Chamonix Ski Touring group chat for the latest on conditions, you will probably always get a reply within a few minutes. If this is something that you are likely to benefit from, try out Oak and let us know your feedback.
We strongly recommend these sites as they give an excellent idea of the local forecast.
Chamonix-meteo.com - for Chamonix valley only. Updated in the morning, usually between 06:00 - 10:00. Gives hyper-localised forecasts for the valley specifically, gives snowfall predictions, detailed cloud cover information, etc. One thing to note, they usually overestimate snowfall predictions very slightly.
Meteo-Chamonix.org - for Northern French Alps, updated in the evening, usually around 17:00 - 19:00. Gives a more general forecast of the region, and is also very reliable. They are more conservative regarding snowfall predictions, which usually turn out more accurate.
MeteoAlpes - another good written forecast for the French Alps.
Skipass Meteo - winter only. Covers all French mountainous regions and is usually highly accurate and detailed. Released Monday and Thursday mornings. Highly recommended reading. Written by Thomas Blanchard who runs MeteoAlpes.
If you are a non French speaker, you can use the 'Translate' function in your browser to read in English. As with all translations there are some words that don't quite make sense after being translated by a computer, so to fully understand, here is a list of common 'computer translations' with their real English equivalent:
'Degradation' - referring to the start of a precipitation episode. Snow or rain.
'Kiss' (wind) - local word. North wind which is accentuated by the Lake Geneva.
'Veiled' (clouds) - a layer of high clouds which give the sky a milky tone.
'Getting bored' - a Google Translate mistake, it should be 'becoming more cloudy' or 'clouding over'.
You can also use the official French weather website, Météo-France, although the site is full of adverts.
The avalanche report (which is nicely detailed, but only in French) is useful also to help assess weather.
MeteoSwiss - Official Swiss weather service app with highly accurate local forecasts. This app is generally superior to average weather apps due to its forecasts which are tailored for mountainous regions. There are also human written forecasts for each region (scroll down on the homepage) which seem highly accurate.
There is also a highly accurate weather radar - people have told us they use this out in the field and they can rely on it. In addition, this radar can be used just over the Swiss border, so for places like Chamonix and Aosta it could work well.
White Risk - the avalanche bulletin. This gives you an indication of recent and upcoming snowfall.
Generally in Italy, the best human interpreted weather forecasts are provided by the region (except in the case of Sud Tirol, where the neighbouring Austria does a better job)
These forecasts take into account the mountainous terrain more effectively than weather apps. In some cases, where the website gives you the option to download the bulletin as a PDF - do so. There is often more detail than what is written on the website. It may require small knowledge of the Italian language, however. Nevicate = snowfall, sereno = clear skies!
Valle d'Aosta - Meteo Valle d'Aosta forecasts, and the regional weather forecasts (both good)
Lombardia Alps - ARPA Lombardia (download pdf)
Piemonte Alps - ARPA Piemonte (download pdf)
Liguria Alps - ARPAL Liguria
Trentino Dolomites - MeteoTrentino (regional weather) or the German Alpenverein weather forecast, which can deliver more detail.
North Dolomites (Bolzano) - The not-so-detailed Meteo Bz or once again the German Alpenverein
Please note, when using the German Alpenverein forecasts, the weather forecasts for the region (ie: Southern Dolomites, Northern Dolomites) are available only 2 days in advance. After 2 days in advance, they forecast for the 'Eastern Alps' instead.
Bergfex Weather - A very popular solution in Austria and other German speaking countries. Its ease of use is probably the best feature about this app as it does allow you to compare many different ski resorts next to each other.
Bergfex also passes on high quality written forecasts for a huge variety of regions, which take into account mountain weather well. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to get a better idea of all the options available. These are sourced from ZAMG/Geosphere, if you would like to explore these directly from the source (they also often contain pictures), read the next suggestions.
ZAMG - excellent written mountain weather forecasts.
This is probably the most reliable written forecast in Austria for skiers, climbers and mountaineers. Use the link above to see the country as a whole, or focus on a select region using the sidebar options.
Geosphere - a written forecast which provides insight on mountain weather. Note that these forecasts are only available in German - just translate them in your browser.
ORF - another written option.
Wetteronline - As recommended by a member of the Oak community, the 24hr precipitation radar feature is excellent to know which resorts and mountains have received the most snowfall. This is an insider tip!
The WetterOnline rain radar - click -24 Std. for 24hr history.
The weather is a huge topic and there is no right or wrong answer here. Everyone in the Oak team skis, climbs, hikes, some of us mountain bike, some of us fly. We also can't agree on the best tool to use.
For example, Emil, the founder of Oak, seriously recommends combining OpenSnow with MeteoBlue.
He likes the long range forecasts presented in a simple manner in OpenSnow, where he can plan his ski tours for the weekend a few days in advance.
He then uses MeteoBlue, using the Meteograms almost exclusively, to plan the day before or on the day. For example, the cloud level, the temperature and wind informs him of what to wear when out in the mountains.
I (Tom) prefer using almost exclusively human-written forecasts, which give me a clue about forecast reliability, something that automated models don't do so obviously.
Living in Chamonix there are no shortage of these, and I have written a quick summary of what I use here. I don't read many books every year, and it's probably because I'm too busy reading https://chamonix-meteo.com/ in the morning, the avalanche report at 16:00, then https://meteo-chamonix.org/ in the evening.
I find that we are lucky in Chamonix as we have so many forecasting sources. When I travel to the Dolomites I cringe whilst having to read Meteo Bolzano, which is usually about as useful as a chocolate radiator.
Nowadays, you can get so much data and information about the weather within minutes, so weather forecasting is as complicated as you want it to be. You choose your tools accordingly: either you can be an amateur forecaster, or you can let experts do the forecasting for you. The average skier, climber, or mountaineer is not necessarily going to fall into the first bracket, so that is why we have offered suggestions for many expert-written weather forecasts for Alpine regions.
This is a work in progress article, just like our last article about FATMAP (which we updated 5 times so far!), so please leave your feedback and we will take your tips into account.
We are aiming to build a great knowledgebase for the Oak community and make mountain sports safer for everyone. If you want to be part of it, join the Oak community and get involved.
