Skiing holidays are rescued as snow falls across the Alps

Snow has arrived in the nick of time to rescue what was threatening to be a disastrous half term week for the Alps.

Some resorts had not seen any fresh falls for 54 days and average snow depths were only 25 per cent of what would be expected by late February.

The snow started to fall in Austria, Italy and the southern French Alps earlier this week and is to reach major resorts such as Val D'Isere tonight.

Only the more westerly and northern French and Swiss resorts have yet to benefit, although light coverings are forecast for the weekend.

Webcams still show hugely popular destinations such as Meribel and Megeve in France with bare earth at village level, although lower temperatures have allowed runs to be covered by snow cannons at higher altitudes.

Betony Garner of the Ski Club of Great Britain, said: "Across most of the Alps snow is either falling or will be by the end of the day. Next week is the busiest week of the season so it's brilliant that it's come now rather than in a few weeks time."

Resorts in Scandinavia, the Rockies and Scotland have all had heavy snow.