Massive Blizzard Could Dump 100 Inches of Snow on South America's Ski Resorts This Week
A winter storm, possibly a massive one, is brewing in South America.
As of now, multiple forecasts show intense snowfall slamming ski resorts in the region later this week.
At Ski Portillo, a famed Chilean resort frequented by skiers from North America, the precipitation should pick up Thursday night (July 16, 2026), with as much as two feet of snow expected on Friday, according to snow-forecast.com.
Further south, in Chile’s Tres Valles, all three ski resorts—Valle Nevado, La Parva, and El Colorado—are slated for heavy snow lasting through the weekend. At La Parva, @climate.julien pegged the Friday total at about two feet.
“These exact values are volatile, but the timing signal is clear: Thursday night through Friday is the peak window for the central Andes,” Julien wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday, detailing the period between June 13 and June 17.
Overall, including the weekend and early next week, the forecasts teeter into the realm of the absurd, with some pointing to nearly—or more than—100 inches of snow accumulation at Ski Portillo and the mountains in the Tres Valles. Other resorts throughout South America, like Nevados de Chillan, could see a significant boost, too.
For South American skiers or travelers eyeing a vacation, that’s an exciting prospect—several ski areas have a slow start this winter in the southern hemisphere, with less snow than hoped. Multiple feet of precipitation, then, could kick ski season fully into gear, delivering incredible conditions—at least after all the ski areas dig themselves out and conduct avalanche control.
But it’s probably best to wait and see rather than counting all the inches before they arrive.
“After the long-range forecasts struggled with the current storm, and my experience with long-range forecasting in the southern hemisphere in general, I don’t think it’s wise to focus on storm details and specifics more than five days out,” wrote OpenSnow’s South America forecaster, Luke Stone, late last week.
The prospective buzz around South American powder turns comes after an enormous storm hit some ski fields in New Zealand earlier this month, dropping feet of snow.
One spot, Mt. Hanmer, recently shared photos from the storm’s aftermath, showing almost completely buried lift infrastructure.
Will South America look much the same in the coming days? We certainly hope so. At the very least, if you’re watching from afar, be prepared for some jealousy-inducing photos to appear—this might be a big one.
Leave a Reply