The South America snow forecast features a strong early-week Andes storm, with the best totals in the central Andes before a more uncertain weekend reload. Lift-served skiing remains closed across the region as of Monday, June 8, so this is a base-building update rather than a resort powder-chase. Confidence is best from Monday morning, June 8 through early Friday, June 12, when the models line up on colder storm timing and meaningful accumulation, then drops from Friday through Sunday as solutions split on how much moisture reloads and where the heaviest snow sets up.
From Monday night through Wednesday, the models converge on a colder storm focused first on the high central Andes, with the strongest signal from Portillo through Valle Nevado, El Colorado, and La Parva. Snow levels during the main push generally run from about 1,400-2,600 meters, low enough for snow across the higher resort elevations and much of the alpine terrain. Snow quality should be moderate to fairly light at the higher central-Andes elevations, with SLRs mostly 10-15 during the better bursts. Published totals through early Friday favor 47-68 cm at Portillo, 35-52 cm at Valle Nevado, and 27-43 cm around the rest of the Santiago-area resorts.
Farther south, the models agree that precipitation reaches Nevados de Chillán, Corralco, northern Patagonia, and Cerro Castor, but they are less aligned on intensity and snow levels. The colder southern end near Cerro Castor keeps snow levels mostly near 0-600 meters, while northern Patagonia and the Araucanía/Ñuble zone see snow levels more often around 1,000-1,900 meters during snow, favoring denser snow near lower elevations and better quality higher up. SLRs are mostly 5-10 in the wetter southern and Patagonian periods, so expect heavier base-building snow rather than blower powder. Wind guidance agrees on a gusty pattern, but peak gusts diverge, with exposed ridges most likely seeing 40-70 km/h gusts and a few stronger outliers.
From Friday through Sunday, the models diverge sharply on timing, intensity, snow levels, and wind, so the reload is real but much less certain than the first wave. The most realistic picture is another central-Andes pulse with roughly 30-60 cm possible where the storm focuses, while wetter outliers are substantially higher and drier solutions keep totals much lower. Southern areas look more mixed and intermittent, generally closer to 10-30 cm where cold air overlaps moisture. After Monday, the pattern looks less organized, with smaller snow chances favoring Patagonia and far southern terrain around Tuesday and Wednesday.
South America Snow Forecast Resort Totals (Mon Jun 08 – Fri Jun 12)
- Portillo – 47-68 cm
- Valle Nevado – 35-52 cm
- El Colorado – 29-43 cm
- La Parva – 27-40 cm
- Nevados de Chillán – 18-25 cm
- Corralco – 17-25 cm
- Las Leñas – 12-18 cm
- Cerro Catedral – 10-15 cm
- Cerro Castor – 9-15 cm
- Chapelco – 7-11 cm