Lea Hartl

Somehow it feels like winter is just beginning, at least if you are traveling in the areas currently blessed with fresh snow. Winter in terms of meteorological statistics, on the other hand, has come to an end at the turn of the month and the weather services are presenting their reviews.

Stormy Yulia visited us before the current low Zehra. By now, we are used to stormy conditions with horizontal rain at 2000m and extreme wind peaks in the lowlands. Storm Yulia joined Petra, Sabine and Victoria in this respect last weekend.

The International Snow Science Workshop (ISSW) brings together scientists and practitioners from a wide range of snow-related fields every two years. New findings and research results are presented in various thematic blocks - so-called sessions. We break the whole thing down into more or less digestible morsels and summarize the sessions of the ISSW2018 for you every two weeks.

Once again, the weather continues to be mild and changeable. The polar vortex is bursting with strength and probably admires its muscles in the mirror every day. We look at Low Victoria a.k.a. Dennis and the outlook for the coming days.

Storm Sabine, which was very present in the media and also in the weather, has left us again. The changeable westerly weather is still with us, but not quite as stormy.

"You don't say nice weather!" - That's what we learned at university. Of course, you don't say "bad weather" either. In fact, the WeatherBlog still tries to avoid such subjective expressions, after all, tastes differ and if you try hard, you can still get something out of boring weather conditions (technical term) from a meteorological point of view.

The PowderAlert has already announced it and anyone looking out of the window in the Northern Alps will notice it: it's been a long time since rain or even snow instead of sun and high fog! A nice change that we have a cold front from the northwest to thank for.

BCA and ARVA will each be launching a new avalanche transceiver next season, although these are more likely to be overhauled versions of familiar models than fundamentally new inventions. The various airbag systems remain unchanged and are merely packaged in new colors. The only completely new feature appears to be a microwave scanner that records "snow profiles".

PowderGuide partner Penguin is a small and - in our opinion - very likeable clothing company from Switzerland that produces a manageable collection ranging from ski underwear to hardshells according to the motto "by freeriders for freeriders". This week, the S.Café Hoodie - a fleece midlayer - is our Gear of the Week.

The Arva Reactor Ultralight 25L is, as the name suggests, the lightweight model in the now tried and tested Reactor series and, in addition to its low weight, impresses above all with its high carrying comfort and individual customisation options.

Every two years, the International Snow Science Workshop (ISSW) brings together scientists and practitioners from a wide range of different, but always snow-related, subject areas. New findings and research results are presented in various thematic blocks - so-called sessions. We break the whole thing down into more or less digestible morsels and summarize the sessions of the ISSW2018 for you every two weeks.

In the last few days, the WeatherBlog has often heard the question of whether the current weather misery can be blamed on climate change. It's somehow to blame for everything and in the meantime we've often read that it's causing more "extreme" or simply more persistent weather conditions. So what's this all about again?