Lea Hartl

It's going to be a turbulent week - the PowderAlert has already announced it. One front chases the next, all bringing precipitation, initially with relatively cool temperatures.

The interplay of windy, warmer, colder, sunny and wet continues. Embedded in a strong westerly current, new disturbances are constantly reaching the Alps. Small changes in the direction of flow on both sides of the Alps sometimes lead to foehn, then again to accumulating precipitation.

If you don't have air support or a skido and want to ski in the Alaska Range, you have to be satisfied with a very limited selection of possible destinations. Especially if it is to be a day tour, at best without touching complicated glaciers.

The meteorological winter is coming to an end (the skiing winter is still a long way off, of course!) and with it, the permanent high that has dominated the Alpine weather for what feels like half an eternity is slowly coming to an end.

Today's somewhat changeable weather - changeable in the sense of "there are a few clouds" - is only short-lived. Dorit, last week's high, is moving away to the east, but high Erika is already waiting in the wings.

According to the manufacturer, the La Sportiva Maze jacket is a "thermal layer" and therefore particularly suitable for very low temperatures, as well as being abrasion-resistant, breathable ("optimum climatic comfort") and resistant to odor-producing bacteria.

The PowderAlert has already announced that the recent snowfall will be followed by a longer period of high pressure with sunshine everywhere and relatively mild temperatures. Good for touring, bad prospects for all those who want fresh snow.

A small high-pressure bridge has moved between a low over Scandinavia and one in the Aegean and is currently providing sunny, high-pressure weather in the Alps. Tomorrow, Thursday, a small disturbance will move through, bringing snow showers to the western Alps and some clouds to the east.

This time we start with a look at the big picture, or at least the northern half of the big picture. The polar vortex has not been swirling nicely around the pole for a while now, but is wobbling around irregularly with several low-pressure centers.

The Alpine region is still under the influence of a high-altitude trough filled with cold, polar air masses, while the Azores High is trying to build up off the European Atlantic coast. Today, Wednesday, a low pressure system will slip from the British Isles towards the Mediterranean and "drip", i.e. leave the main current to remain in the Mediterranean for a while as a genoa low.

The persistent, very heavy northern precipitation has come to an end and a high with a core in the western Mediterranean will dominate the weather in the Alpine region today, Wednesday. Over the next few days, there will be minor disturbances from time to time, but compared to the weather of the last two weeks, it will remain calm. Time to take a deep breath, dig out the cars and shovel off the roof.

...and the occasional bit of north-westerly congestion. That more or less sums up the current outlook. As you can read in the never-ending PowderAlert series, it's still snowing in the northern Alps for the time being.