Verbier Snow Prediction Winter 2026/27 (Very Early Take)
Verbier Snow Prediction Winter 2026/27 (Very Early Take)
The lifts in Verbier may have only just closed, but it already feels like winter 25/26 is unfinished business. I skied the first day, I skied the last day, and somehow I still want more. Normally I wait until Autumn to write this, but this year I’m going early. Very early. All the usual noise is starting again, El Niño, big winter, bring it on. But this time I’ve got a feeling. I think winter 26/27 could be the big one. Proper big. I’m already eyeing up the fattest skis I can find, ready for deep days from the start.
Everyone leans on El Niño, but that’s never really the full story here. Verbier does its own thing. It doesn’t care what the Pacific is doing, it barely follows a three day forecast. By the time those global patterns reach the Alps, they’ve been reshaped by everything happening closer to home. And right now there’s something else in the background, the North Atlantic, the AMOC slowing. Subtle maybe, but if that shifts even slightly, Europe gets colder, more unstable, more winter. And that’s where it gets interesting, because what Verbier really needs isn’t a label like El Niño, it’s a setup. Warm, moisture loaded air pushing in from the Atlantic, meeting colder air dropping in from the east or north. When that happens, everything lines up. That’s when it dumps. Not constant snow, but proper cycles that build a base quickly and keep things interesting for a few days. Call it a theory, call it instinct, but it doesn’t feel like a normal setup.
So what does that actually mean. Probably not a perfect, consistent season, it rarely is. December will do what it does, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. Last winter I ran a warm up week in December and it turned into one of the best weeks of the season. Quiet slopes, good conditions, and a proper chance to shake off the cobwebs before the main winter kicks in. I’ll be running that again this year, plus some early season weekends from opening, for anyone who wants a head start or to get things dialled in with a few ski lessons in Verbier. January settles things down, February is where it can all come together if the timing works, and March does whatever it wants. That’s always been the way here. Long quiet spells, then one proper cycle that delivers everything. That’s Verbier. You wait, you doubt it, and then it reminds you.
If you’re already thinking about next winter, now’s the time to get organised. The good weeks, New Year, half term, they don’t hang around. And there is only one truth. The skiing will be epic.

Roddy Willis 





