Most resorts in the Alps and across North America have had healthy snowfalls in the past few days. The biggest single snowfall reported was 90cm (three feet) in 24 hours at Alpine Meadows resort near Lake Tahoe in California, but most other resorts in Western North America have reported at least a foot of new snow in recent days. Beneficiaries have included Jackson Hole in Wyoming and both Squaw Valley and Mammoth mountain in California, both of which are open well in to May and possibly later.

We may be entering the last month of operations for many leading snow resorts, but the snow is still falling thickly at many ski centres in Europe and North America. Current Paralympics host Whistler is continuing its record breaking 2009–10 season with another metre of snow in the past week. It still has at least three months of the season to run, thanks to its high altitude glacier skiing.

Two professors compared snowfall as reported by ski resorts with that in government weather records. The resorts had seemingly found an astonishing new meteorological phenomenon: Regular, unusually large deposits of fresh powder on weekends, just when most skiers are inclined to head to the slopes and just when resort prices are higher! Of course, the weekend-powder pattern didn’t show up in the weather-service reports.

It’s snowing in much of Europe and Scandinavia today after a week of low temperatures which kept existing snow bases in good condition, but didn’t bring much new accumulation. Reports of up to 90cm (three feet) of new snow in the past 24 hours have been made from Swiss resorts to snow reporting agency, although the majority are reporting 10–30cm (4 inches to a foot).

Tahoe in California currently has the most snow in the United States with Kirkwood Mountain Resort ringing in 200inches (5 metres) for the season total to date. One to two feet (30–60cm) of fresh powder has fallen in the last 24 hours to Lake Tahoe South Shore ski resorts – Heavenly Mountain Resort, Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort and Kirkwood Mountain Resort.

Ski resorts in France are mostly in good shape ahead of the busy February holiday period when most schools in Europe have half-term weeks, and families from France and the UK in particular descend en masse on the country’s resorts.

The Ski Club of Great Britain is reporting what they describe as, “exceptional skiing conditions across Europe.” The Club employs their own expert reps who are based in 35 resorts worldwide and have been sending back snow reports where they describe the snow as ‘superb’ and ‘the best of the season so far’.

Parts of the UK were colder than European ski resorts last night as temperatures matched their lowest levels so far this winter. The temperature in Benson, Oxfordshire, and Woodford, Greater Manchester, reached -18C, a degree lower than some manufacturers recommend for freezing food at home and 2C warmer than the south pole – although it is the height of summer in the southern hemisphere.