Lea Hartl

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.

The Tyrolean meteorologists are more important these days than at any other time of the year: the Hahnenkamm race at the weekend needs to be looked after, with precise forecasts and nowcasting thanks to weather stations set up on the Streif.

Morocco - many people only know it from Casablanca. But a trip to the northwest African coastal state is also worthwhile on skis.

On January 19, 79 rookies (17 women and 62 men) proved themselves in a 2* Freeride World Qualifier where the pros of the World Tour will be battling for victory in just over a month's time. On the Wildseeloder in Fieberbrunn, it was "drop in" shortly after 10:00 am into the Herrgottsrinne at the women's start of the Freeride World Tour. As at the start in the Axamer Lizum, Martin Rofner from the Arlberg stood at the top of the podium at the end of the day. Benedikt Minutillo, Lea Hartl and Stephanie Hamann also won in their respective categories.

Weather is complicated. Sometimes more, sometimes less. In light of the current situation, today's WeatherBlog is once again dedicated to the development and interpretation of precipitation forecasts.

Last Saturday was, let's say, the most interesting day in the WeatherBlog's ski instructor career for a long time. Even getting out of the car in the pouring rain proved difficult for the entire team due to a lack of motivation. A few hundred meters up the gondola later, it was still almost as warm and still pouring, to the particular delight of those colleagues whose workplace is located on the magic carpet next to the gondola. Only at around 1800 m, at the top lift in the area, could the precipitation be described as snow with a little good will.

2012 not only ended on a warm note, but was also warmer than average for the year. Over the next few days, the east can look forward to northern congestion before high pressure dominates the weather throughout the Alpine region.

At the end of the week, a cold front brings brief cooling with fresh snow. Possible change in the general weather situation next year.