Lea Hartl

Since last Sunday, a cold snap has had not only the Alps but also large parts of Central Europe firmly in its grip. To the east of a massive, blocking high in the Atlantic, cold air from the polar regions is being directed towards us. Snow showers are causing confusion in the northern German lowlands, in many places there is concern about frost damage to the fruit blossom and in the mountains, everyone who didn't give up on winter in February is going in search of a few more powder turns.

For most people living in the Alps, Andalusia is probably not on the list of must-visit ski spots. You actually feel a bit strange when you drag your ski bag towards a Spanish budget airline in late spring and are eyed critically by beach holidaymakers.

What was in short supply during the height of winter is now being made up for: With a strong push of cold air over Central Europe, the next late winter interlude is on the horizon for the weekend. Gardening enthusiasts should perhaps not put frost-sensitive plants outside just yet, while winter lovers will be delighted with the polar air expected by the models.

After a few dry, clear days, a change in the weather is on the horizon and fans of thunder and lightning are looking forward to the start of the thunderstorm season. The medium-term outlook is uncertain, but at least there is no threat of midsummer yet. Also: The Alpine Association presents its glacier report for the 2014/15 season.

Börm Bruckmeier Verlag, which specializes in medical literature in a "compact format", presents a detailed guidebook to take with you into the mountains, subtitled: From day trip to Himalayan expedition.

The last few days have been rather frustrating in terms of skiing in large parts of the Alps. T-shirt temperatures in the valleys and T-shirt removal temperatures at many climbing crags, rapidly dwindling snow and increasingly brownish remnants of pistes have reduced the motivation for ski touring. Why is it not really freezing at night, even though the weather is somehow "nice"? Is it going to get cold again and what's next?

The next few days will bring changeable, mild, often foehn-like weather in the north. In the south, it will be cloudy and wet, possibly with late base-building for the alpine touring season. Also: On the occasion of World Weather Day, the WMO warns us to face the challenges of the future.

At first glance, the Pieps Pro+ shovel is a standard avalanche shovel of a slightly larger type. The telescopic handle locks into place with the familiar "push-button system" and is 81 cm long when extended. The shovel blade is 25cm wide (=relatively large). The special feature: A saw is hidden in the shovel handle.

The Tambora volcano is located on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. In April 1815, Tambora erupted, with far-reaching consequences not only for the surrounding area, but for the whole world. The WeatherBlog recently read a book about it.

In contrast to the rest of the winter so far, the Alps have been in a north-easterly flow for a while now (apart from a few foehns), which brings relatively cool weather. Most recently, a drop of cold air paid us a visit. What's it all about and why are we not feeling the otherwise frequent Atlantic influence at the moment?

The WeatherBlog has stumbled across some strange conspiracy theories and is calling for reflection and not believing everything on the internet. It's a bit like the supposedly waist-deep snow on Instagram that only reaches as far as the second buckle on your ski boots. What's more, the ECMWF now has a powerful computer and is better at forecasting.

The meteorological winter (December, January, February) has been over since Monday. In Austria, it went down in the statistics as the second warmest winter in recorded history at 2.7° above the long-term average, and in Germany it was also 3.4° warmer than the average. In Austria, only 2006/07 was warmer, 2013/14 was just as warm. This means that five of the 10 warmest winters in the 250-year measurement history have occurred in the last 10 years. Nevertheless, and because the weather is known to not always stick to the calendar, it was, is and will be relatively wintry, at least in the mountains. We take a closer look at this below.