Lea Hartl

We're off, at least all of us from PowderGuide. The reason: we're meeting up in the Jamtal valley in Tyrol for the almost traditional PG end-of-season meeting. On board will be the PG editorial team, most of the Conditions reporters and many other PG friends, supporters and the world's leading avalanche rescue expert Manuel Genswein.

The WeatherBlog was recently on a ski tour. Due to a lack of competence in choosing a destination, he found himself in a cloud. Not under the cloud, but actually in the cloud, which from the point of view of those affected becomes fog. Above the fog, the sun was shining, while below it you could at least enjoy ski-length visibility. In the cloud, you couldn't see much other than fog. It was damp and somehow warm. Warmer than outside the cloud. The snow was also noticeably heavier. The WeatherBlog didn't get smeared, as it was cloudy, and got sunburnt.

Since the weather doesn't change much anyway, let's get back to the big picture and suggestions from the WeatherBlog topic requests thread.

The general weather situation discussed in the last blog has not changed significantly. A strong high over Scandinavia is blocking the westerly wind drift across the Atlantic, allowing cold air from the north-east to penetrate far into Central Europe. Low pressure systems are forced to move into the Mediterranean region and pass south of the Alps.

We've already had the meteorological beginning of spring, now it's time for the astronomical one. Spring itself is making a very tentative appearance, at least if you believe the whining of some of our fellow human beings.

Snowfall brings Frankfurt Airport to a standstill, there is a 100-car pile-up on a highway in Hesse, Spanish climbers are complaining about the incessant rain, Andorra is drowning in snow and, at least in the Eastern Alps, nothing is happening at all, although a few days ago masses of snow were predicted here too. What's going on?

Over the past week, the entire Alpine region has enjoyed fantastic sunny and stable weather. If you looked dreamily down into the valley while taking a breather on the ascent or enjoying a cappuccino on the sun terrace, you could often see a brown-yellow haze or even a low-lying layer of cloud.

You don't like to hear it, but the meteorological winter is rapidly coming to an end. The past three months have been more or less averagely cold, with an above-average amount of snow and extremely few hours of sunshine.

Due to the flu, today is more of a short weather update than a full blog.

Last week it snowed 60 cm in 48 hours in Bregenz, the usually unexciting provincial capital of Vorarlberg, with 52 cm falling on February 8th, with impressive precipitation rates of up to 13 mm/h. This was thanks to the legendary Lake Effect. The spectacle was due to the legendary Lake Effect.

It has been snowing heavily on the northern slopes of the Alps recently. Our colleague Orakel has sounded the powder alarm twice in four days and that's saying something. We'll leave the specific details to him and focus on the bigger picture that makes it all possible.

Another month has passed. It must be due to climate change! After a wet but mild January, February promises cooler temperatures and accumulated precipitation right from the start.