Snow report for Vars today

At Vars, over 40 measured winters at the ST PAUL weather station, snow lies at 30 cm or more for 88 days a winter, and 294 cm falls over 36 days of snowfall.

Vars is a ski resort in the Southern Alps (Hautes-Alpes). The village sits at 1,850 m and the ski area rises to 2,750 m, a skiable vertical of 1,100 m.

Today’s snow report

Off season · opens 5 December 2026

The domain is due to open on 5 December 2026 and close on 11 April 2027. Open pistes and lifts will appear here as soon as the resort publishes its daily report.

Vars opens on 5 December 2026. The daily report (snow depths, open pistes and lifts) will appear here from opening day.

Snow actually measured, winter by winter

40 complete winters measured, from 1961-1962 to 2017-2018 — on average 88 days a winter with at least 30 cm on the ground.

Météo-France — “ST PAUL” station (1908 m, 13.1 km away) · 12 Sept 2026
  1. 1-15 Dec22 cmInsufficient · 32 %
  2. 16-31 Dec37 cmVariable · 57 %
  3. 1-15 Jan46 cmVariable · 70 %
  4. 16-31 Jan57 cmVariable · 78 %
  5. 1-15 Feb60 cmGood skiing · 81 %
  6. 16-29 Feb64 cmGood skiing · 81 %
  7. 1-15 Mar64 cmGood skiing · 84 %
  8. 16-31 Mar50 cmVariable · 60 %
  9. 1-15 Apr33 cmInsufficient · 40 %
Best winter of the series
2012-2013 — 136 days at 30 cm or more
Worst winter of the series
1963-1964 — 1 day at 30 cm or more

How much snow actually falls — 294 cm a winter on average, spread over 36 days of snowfall. Measured over 33 complete winters, from 1962-1963 to 2017-2018.

Biggest 24-hour snowfall
78 cm — 1970-1971
Snowiest winter
1977-1978 — 553 cm
Leanest winter
1980-1981 — 108 cm
Total snow depth on the ground measured at 06:00 at the Météo-France “ST PAUL” station (1908 m, 13.1 km away), from the open “Daily climatological data” dataset (Open Licence 2.0). The season is counted from 1 December to 15 April; only winters with at least 95 % of those 136 days measured are kept, so no figure here rests on a handful of readings. The reading is taken at 1908 m, well below the top of the ski area (2750 m), where snow lies deeper. In season, the resort’s daily report prevails. Snowfall figures are the fresh snow depth over 24 hours recorded at the same station (the HNEIGEF column): a day of snowfall is a day with 1 cm or more, and only winters measured 95 % of the time on that column are counted — which is why the record can be longer or shorter than the one for snow on the ground. More snow always falls than remains: some melts, settles or blows away.

☀️ Average daily sunshine : Nov 7.2 h · Dec 6.8 h · Jan 7.2 h · Feb 8.4 h · Mar 9.6 h · Apr 10.6 h — 26 bright days in April (Open-Meteo estimate, 2015-2025).

Why altitude matters. Vars stretches from 1,650 m to 2,750 m: snow lies longest at the top of the ski area, which is why the two depths are reported separately.

Plan your stay in Vars

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Where to stay in Vars

Sowell
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Resort data: declared by Office du Tourisme and distributed by ANMSM · read on 25 September