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Has anyone researched which southern hemisphere locale or region receives the most annual snowfall? I'm guessing Patagonia, and the following map suggests that's the case, but is anyone aware of a map or data set (other than ski area averages) of southern hemisphere annual snowfall across continents (esp. Andes vs. N.Z.'s southern Alps)?

Yeah let's get on the southern Hemi stoke thinking a trip there myself this year again,was in Bariloche a few years ago,defo thinking Patagonia gets the most snow

Personally don't know much about snow fall averages in South America but the Franz Josef Glacier Neve in the Southern Alps of New Zealand receives on average something like 150m of snow per year.

Ummm, I think you mean something more like 15m.

On average, the upper Franz Josef Glacier gets almost 14m (45ft) of snow every year! The upper catchment area, or nevé, of the Franz Josef Glacier is about 20km2, so it’s a pretty big area for snow to accumulate.

I think you want to wait for the S. American coverage to fill in before buying tickets, it has a history of being hit or miss.

Ozzie snow stats up untill 1998 only





Not anything like 15M

Thanks, guys; great information. I appreciate it.

Over 500" annually is big league. I agree about waiting to see given annual variability. Forecasts call for neutral or developing warm-phase ENSO conditions for the remainder of 2012. Neutral's effects are a toss up on both continents whereas warm phase typically favors snowier winters in Patagonia but its effects on NZ are less clear (colder, drier southerly winds which may or may not favor more snow).

Timing... Based on multi-year monthly snow-depth data (thank you, this is really interesting and helpful), it looks like September (equivalent to March in the northern hemisphere) would be the best time to for a shred odyssey with good coverage. Does that comport with your real-world shredding experience? Or does snow quality begin to deteriorate that late even as depth may continue to accrue?

Taylor
Our weather systems come from Antartica and come across the southern bite of Australia heading west to east. NZ gets separate cold fronts than us but they still originate from antartica.
Cheers