Lea Hartl

There is no doubt that we are still in the area of influence of the massive Omega High with its core in the Danish region. In the southern Alps there were still clouds and the odd snowflake until the beginning of the week, while in the north the sunshine has not been marred by more than a few high foehn clouds for some time. It will become more unsettled towards the weekend and it will snow a little in the north. Also: New Europe Climate Report and other reading tips.

After the wintry, more or less snowy interlude of the last few days, high pressure is now increasingly asserting itself again. There is still a bit of fluff in the southwest, but the remnants of the disturbances will quickly disappear. We are falling back into the pattern of the previous winter: Atlantic block, cold air from the east, unusually warm Arctic Ocean.

BCA and Alpride now have similarly lightweight and small airbag systems as the other manufacturers. Some companies that previously bought in airbag systems for their own backpacks are taking them out of the range completely after winters with low sales. Mammut has completely redesigned Barryvox avalanche transceivers - one in the mid-price segment and one high-end device.

Arc'teryx is adding another component to its insulation elementary particle collection: in addition to Atom and Nuclei, there is now the particularly breathable Proton series.

We take a look at where January 2017 ranks in the climate statistics and then consider the current situation and further developments in February: a long phase of cold, dry weather is followed by mild, foehn-like conditions in the north and fairly widespread precipitation in the parched south. It remains to be seen whether this change will last or whether we will soon return to familiar patterns.

Ski socks are an important topic that receives too little attention. A ski or ski boot purchase requires lengthy research and lead time, during which we think about rocker, flex, canting, inserts and interchangeable soles. Socks, on the other hand, you just kind of have them. There's the pair with the holes in the heel that will last another season, the chafed pair with the silver ions that were supposed to prevent stink in the days before merino wool, and the successors made from stylish, cozy, colorful, odorless merino. We believe that our relationship with ski socks says more about us than is generally assumed. Some thoughts on socks and life itself.

The Alps are under the influence of a powerful high with its center over Germany. In the west, a small high-altitude low will provide some visual variety in the form of clouds, but there won't be more than a few scattered snowflakes here either. While it will get colder every day near the ground, it will remain relatively mild at higher altitudes.

The recent snowfall in the northern Alps will now be followed by a phase of high pressure with calm, mostly sunny weather. Fresh snow is only expected in the mountains of southern Europe for the time being. We are also taking a look at the North Pole this week, inspired by a user question.

Ever since we got the SNOWGRID maps on PowderGuide, we've been getting questions about their accuracy: Why is there much more snow here in my favorite forest slope than on the map? SNOWGRID says there's two meters of snow in Ticino, but my buddy says there's nothing at all? Below we provide some insights into the complex world of precipitation measurement, the efforts of ZAMG to record snow as accurately as possible and why it still doesn't always work.

The intermediate high influence of the last few days is coming to an end. A warm front will reach the northern side of the Alps from the west during the course of Wednesday. This will be accompanied by milder temperatures, fresh snow and lots of wind. This week in the WeatherBlog: More details on the outlook for the coming days and the sea effect snow in south-eastern Europe.

We continue with the International Snow Science Workshop 2016 and the studies presented there: Having already dealt with some topics in Part 1 that have more to do with the nature of snow and avalanches, we now turn our attention to people and how they deal with avalanches. Avalanche reports and the authorities that issue them are extremely important for us as winter sports enthusiasts, but their job is not always easy. On the one hand, of course, because the snow doesn't always do what you might expect, and on the other because very complex issues have to be communicated as simply and intuitively as possible. What are the current issues here and how do you approach them?

The long awaited and since at least last week hyped northern storm has arrived. My colleague Orakel has already summarized the practical information (short version: in the east - Salzburg/STMK area - it looks best in terms of amounts and base, it will be very windy), so we are less concerned with the result of the current weather situation and more with its general structure.