Lea Hartl

The Arc'teryx Cerium LT hooded jacket is designed as a lightweight mid-layer that packs down small and can be worn under a hardshell when needed. European down is combined with synthetic material, which guarantees maximum thermal performance in strategic areas, even in damp conditions.

While our colleague Orakel oracles and discusses the exciting future, this week's WeatherBlog deals with the boring past, which has recently been characterized by hurricanes, rain and cancelled freeride and Alpine World Cup events.

Accumulated precipitation, also known as orographic precipitation or precipitation on a slope, occurs when air masses hit an obstacle and are lifted by it. The air becomes colder the higher it rises and when it reaches a certain level, the water vapor it contains condenses. Small droplets or ice crystals form, which precipitate as soon as they have reached the required size.

The WeatherBlog joins the long list of annual reviews. It has been clear for some time that 2014 will go down in history as a very warm year. In Austria, there has not been a year with a higher average annual temperature since measurements began in 1768, and 2014 will most likely be the warmest year worldwide since 1880 (Austrian monks started measuring weather data earlier than many others).

Over the past few days, the weather in the Alpine region has been dominated by a strong westerly current produced by a low over northern Europe and a high in the south. The high in the south was strong enough to steer most of the disturbances north of the Alps. It was warm and sunny in Austria and Bavaria, while it poured down in northern Germany, which is at least a little less summery.

Question from Tobi: A meteorologist, who is one of the more forecast-minded types, once told me that the stable weather conditions, i.e. good for a long time or bad for a long time (it's always a question of perspective, of course), have increased significantly. This is also in line with my personal perception, although you can be very wrong. Are there any empirical findings on this or what do you think about the trend?

Every year, we wish for reliable announcements that the winter will be great, preferably including a great forecast for the long weekend when the ski trip is already booked. Every year there is no such thing. This week's WeatherBlog deals with the following question from PG reader Benny_Supernova: If you now combine that (last week's polar vortex topic) with a 65% chance of an upcoming "El Nino" in the Northern Hemisphere winter, what does that add up to? Another "hammer winter" in the Northern Alps (e.g. Innsbruck, where my best skiing buddy lives)?

The WeatherBlog has been asked to explain why winter is "broken". We could go on for a while about what exactly "broken" means - broken in comparison to climatological averages or only in my subjective perception? Broken in general or just on my local mountain? And anyway, meteorologically speaking, it's only been winter for 3 days, so how are you supposed to know if something is broken? But we're not like that ...

The Countdown 110 is a lightweight, versatile ski for powder tours and much more...

The onion principle is now familiar to everyone and has become an integral part of the world of outdoor clothing. Fleece is often used as a mid-layer, the insulating layer, as it is warming, lightweight and quick-drying. Today we are introducing you to the Innomiata jacket from Mammut, a particularly warm mid-layer.

The end of the fall in Austria was the warmest on record. In September it was on average 0.7°C warmer than the long-term average, in October 2.2°C, and November is likely to be even warmer with an expected 3.8°C above average. If December is not exceptionally cold, it can be assumed that 2014 will also set a new temperature record for the year as a whole.

The WeatherBlog starts the season with an apology: He hasn't been following the Alpine weather lately because he was on a business trip to the Himalayas for a while and had neither internet access nor the leisure time to do so, has only recently returned and is drowning in emails and other work to be done. Yes, exactly, these are excuses. Since my colleague Orakel seems to have everything under control here in Germany and the WeatherBlog hasn't quite mentally returned yet, this time it's all about a different mountain region.