Lea Hartl

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.

Why does only the East get something from the PowderAlert? What happens afterwards? What about the possible weather change at the turn of the year?

Several people have asked the WeatherBlog in the last few days: Does dirty air make more snow? (The reason for this was this ORF article.) The question of course includes a second, unspoken, not entirely serious question: Should I perhaps leave the car engine running overnight every now and then? We could also remove the air filters from the industrial plants, or burn the pile of leaves in the garden all at once, and maybe throw a few car tires on the fire! What about the weather?

The International Snow Science Workshop (ISSW) takes place every two years, alternating between the USA, Canada and Europe. The last ISSW was held in Breckenridge, Colorado, in October 2016. The ISSW is the largest scientific conference on snow and avalanches and offers snow researchers from various disciplines the opportunity to get together. Over the next few weeks, we will be taking a closer look at the findings presented there. We start with some news on the topics of model chains, fracture mechanics and avalanche detection.

When will the big change in the weather come? Well, no idea. That's actually the end of the weather topic for this week. For the time being, there won't be much change to the boring high pressure swamp that has been with us for more than long enough. The WeatherBlog is therefore devoting itself to a (subjectively) more interesting topic: two huge ice avalanches that occurred in Tibet this summer.

There has been virtually nothing new since last week, at least as far as the weather is concerned. One cloudless day follows the next. Temperatures have risen a little at higher altitudes, but in many valleys it's still very chilly under the tough inversion. There is no change in sight for the time being.