More than 17 centimetres of snow on the High Fens and there’s yet more to come

Although there have been reports of more than 30 centimetres of snow at some place on high ground in the southeast of Belgium, the official snow count at the Mont Rigi weather station between the highest point in Belgium the Botrange Signal and Baraque Michel (both Liège Province) stood at 17cm on Saturday morning.

The VRT’s weatherman Frank Deboosere says that "It is white everywhere south of the Rivers Sambre and Meuse, but there is a deep covering of snow once you get above 400 to 500 metres”.

There’s more to come with further snow expected on Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening and Saturday night. An additional 5 to 10 cm of snow is expected to have fallen on the high ground in the Ardennes by dawn on Sunday.

Several ski slopes (mainly for cross country skiers) are open this weekend. Claudine Legros of the East Belgian Tourist Board told VRT News that “It’s the first day that the slopes have been able to open this season. Several slopes were open already this morning and it could be the case that more will open in the coming hours. Some still need to get everything organised”.

For the time being at least the ski slopes in the east of Liège province are only open to cross country skiers. With more snow expected between now and Sunday morning it is possible that some slopes will be available to those wishing to ski en piste tomorrow.

Outside the east of Liège Province just one ski slope is open to Alpine Skiers at Baraque Fraiture, in Vielsalm (Luxembourg Province). 

Although dry weather is forecast for the south and east of the country from tomorrow temperatures will be cold during the coming week which means that the snow is likely to stick for some days to come. The VRT weatherman Frank Deboosere warns those wishing to travel to the High Fens for a bit of fun in the snow to be prepared. “It won’t be easy to get there as some roads might not have been cleared and road surfaces may well be slippery”.