Lea Hartl

Today, Wednesday, will be cloudy and wet across the entire Alpine region with the passage of a cold front. There will be the most fresh snow on the main Alpine ridge, but there may also be the odd heavy shower in the "peripheral areas". There will probably be no alerts anywhere, those who get 20 cm can be satisfied.

The Eastern Sierra is the part of the California Sierra Nevada that lies east of the north-south divide. If someone in California tells you that they are going to spend a few days touring in the Eastern Sierra, it's a bit like someone here in Switzerland saying that they are going to spend a few days in the Valais or the Bernese Oberland. You don't have to specify what exactly is planned, the name alone evokes associations of big mountains, long tours and rewarding efforts.

At the meteorological end of winter (March 1), it is now fittingly getting warmer again after the exceptionally cold last few days.

While it's just a bit of a flurry in the northern Alps these days, the situation far to the south-east is more exciting, albeit very uncertain. Next week, a phase of extremely wintry temperatures is on the horizon across a large area.

Today, Wednesday, will be very sunny for the most part thanks to the influence of intermediate highs, and any remaining hillside clouds should clear quickly. Thursday will be cloudy with the arrival of a warm front from the west. In the western Alps, it will probably be cloudy from the morning onwards, while it will remain clearer in the east in the morning.

Over the past few days, the Alps have been under the influence of an elongated low-pressure trough that has extended as far as North Africa. Most recently, a small low developed over the Iberian Peninsula, which resulted in a not overly pronounced southerly flow.

Anyone who lives in the mountains is unlikely to be complaining about the lack of winter feeling at the moment - the villages at higher altitudes are covered in deep snow and the enormous snowfalls of the last few weeks, including the resulting road closures and avalanche damage, are still very much in evidence. However, as January has been very mild, the picture is very different in the lowlands.

In contrast to many large manufacturers of skis, ski boots and bindings, the avalanche transceiver and airbag manufacturers were all represented at ISPO. When it comes to avalanche transceivers, there are small to medium improvements rather than huge innovations, and with the exception of Scott/Alpride, hardly anything significant has changed in terms of airbags.

Over the last few days, the much overused term "snow chaos" has been quite appropriate in large parts of the Alps. Now the snow-related state of emergency is easing and the cut-off valleys and villages are getting a weather window to dig themselves out in the sunshine.

The past weekend up to and including Monday was characterized by sunshine and high fog throughout the Alps. We count Monday as a weekend because the WeatherBlog suspects that some people took Monday "Finally the conditions are right for that steep tour I've always wanted to do". And anyway, every beginning of the week is also the beginning of the previous weekend.

It's not often that international weather reports dominate the evening news. If it does, there is usually not much else happening, or the weather has a massive impact on many people's everyday lives, for example in the form of extreme temperatures, as recently seen in the eastern USA and Australia, or masses of snow, as is currently the case in the Western Alps.

One winter morning a good three years ago, I made friends with fear. Since then, it has become a cherished companion.