Sněžka recorded the season’s first continuous snow cover on 12 October. Winter is not yet on its way to lower ground.

01Snow and altitude

Why snow falls on Sněžka first

Sněžka stands 1603.30 metres above sea level and, despite its modest height, has an Arctic and high-mountain climate. Warmth decreases with altitude and the open summit is also exposed to wind, so snow reaches the top earlier than the lowlands.

At noon on 12 October the temperature on the summit was around zero, but the wind made it feel like minus seven degrees. A falling flake does not yet mean snow that stays on the ground. The first flakes appeared on Sněžka this year as early as 24 September, but they did not settle.

Snow had already begun falling on Sunday 11 October, and during the day it lay on the ridges of the Krkonoše mountains, in the Jizerské hory mountain range and in the Šumava mountains. Monday 12 October therefore brought the season’s first measured continuous snow cover, rather than its first snowfall, with a depth of 2 centimetres on Czech mountain Sněžka. The outlook quoted at the time in the report of 12 October expected mountain temperatures to rise above freezing in the following days, making a thaw likely.

02Comparison

Last year snow lay here ten days earlier. Is this year late?

This year, Sněžka had its first snow cover on 12 October, compared with 2 October last year and as early as 12 September in 2024. The snow did not last, and by the morning of 13 October the station was reporting a snow depth of zero. In 2023, the first snow in the mountains did not fall until 15 October, although that date does not refer specifically to Sněžka.

More than a month separates the earliest and the latest of these dates, so a single year says little about the arrival of winter. According to ČHMÚ, the first snowfall in the mountains appears on the long-term average before 20 October, and meteorologists routinely record snow there in September. This year is therefore not lagging behind the average, although the average refers to the first snowfall, not to a lying layer.

03Curiosities

The weather on the summit is measured by Poles and wind can stop the cable car

On the summit stands a mountain meteorological observatory of the Polish Institute of Meteorology and Water Management, IMGW for short, and the snow-cover figure for Sněžka is supplied to ČHMÚ by these Polish colleagues. Temperature, air humidity, cloud base and pressure are measured there, and the first measurements took place as early as 1880. The meteorologists work in shifts so that there are always at least two of them.

The weather was watched here even earlier, though. The Chapel of St Lawrence on the summit has served as a mountain shelter since 1665, and irregular meteorological observations took place in it from 1824.

The weather on the mountain can also change very abruptly, so it is worth checking whether the cable car is running before a trip. When it is not running, a route 2.5 kilometres long leads on foot from Růžová hora to the summit.

04Outlook

When snow will fall in the lowlands too and what meteorologists say

No outlook gives the exact date of the first snow in the lowlands, because long-range outlooks describe whole periods, not individual days. Meteorologists also point out that details remain uncertain even for the nearest days.

The four-week outlook from ČHMÚ, the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, anticipates wetter weather later on, when snow in the mountains could lie for several days during colder spells. According to long-range outlooks quoted in the media, the first ten-day period of November could bring temperatures of around 10 to 13 °C, with cooling only in the second and third ten-day periods. By the end of November, precipitation could fall as a mixture of rain and snow, or as snow, even at lower elevations.

ČHMÚ’s long-term average offers a better guide. At elevations between 400 and 600 metres above sea level, the first snow falls in the first ten-day period of November, while the lowest areas, such as the Polabí lowlands and southern Morava, a region in eastern Czechia, have to wait until after 20 November. In the mountains, snow that may stay on the ground usually falls in November.

05Practical advice

What to do this week

Winter tyres are compulsory in Czechia from 1 November to 31 March if there is a continuous layer of snow, ice or frost on the road, or such conditions can be expected. On stretches with the ‚Zimní výbava‘ (winter equipment) sign the obligation applies regardless of the weather. The tread of winter tyres must be at least 4 millimetres deep.

The tyre maker Continental recommends going by a threshold of 7 °C, that is, changing tyres when temperatures fall below it. This is a recommendation, not a legal obligation, and it is worth booking an appointment at the tyre shop in advance.