Lea Hartl

A brilliant April is coming to an end. Snow down to the valleys and cold, wet, zero-visibility powdery weather are over for now: because midsummer is looming this weekend!

People like to accuse April of not knowing what it wants. In view of the constantly changeable April weather, this seems rather far-fetched to me. I suspect that people generally underestimate the complexity of April's character and that it knows exactly what it doesn't want, namely weeks of cold spells like January or sunshine every morning and a heat storm just in time for afternoon tea like August. April prefers variety, but without too much effort.

Snowy Easter walks, sunny, warm foehn weather immediately followed by more precipitation, in turn followed by clearing and rain: April weather lives up to its name.

City beautification trees lining cycle paths are slowly beginning to blossom and you increasingly cycle through clouds of sweetly scented flowers. In public parks, motivated people fall off their slacklines at every corner, albeit sometimes into dog piles that have only recently emerged from under the snow. More and more often, you hear the words of those who have come to terms with winter: "You really can't complain this winter."

Spring can easily be mistaken for summer at the moment, especially on sweaty ski tours in black Gore-Tex clothing and merino wool underwear, which you only don't tear off and throw into the nearest crevasse because of certain social norms.

As successfully oracled by our colleague Oracle, the seemingly boring disturbance last Sunday and Monday brought a nice refreshment, at least in the north and west. It is now clearly spring again and is developing increasingly summery characteristics until the still uncertain weekend.

White mountains guard blooming flowers in green valleys, those who forget their sunscreen will regret it and early birds catch the firn.

The snowfall of the past few days has created a tense avalanche situation. At the end of the week, a warm front will bring very mild temperatures and rain up to high altitudes. At the weekend, the signs in the Eastern Alps are pointing to a northern thaw.

Low pressure system Olivia brings the post-Valentine's Day powder announced by our colleague Oracle and finally puts an end to the eastern frost. After an impressive cold spell, the Atlantic slowly regains its importance.

The most interesting weather phenomenon in the Alps at the moment is the temperature. Cold feet and light frostbite among skiers are becoming luxury problems in the wake of the current cold spell.

Catherine has a stuffed wolf in her living room. Alfred had to shoot him because he was sneaking around the house too often and had probably realized that rabbits make better hooks than dustbins. Catherine would like a dog, preferably a puppy. Alfred doesn't want a dog because sooner or later the wolves would eat him. The compromise is a self-confident rabbit that is not allowed outside and gets on very well with the stuffed wolf.

Three major precipitation events characterized January in the Northern Alps: Andrea at the beginning of the month was followed by Fabienne around 20 January and finally Gisela a few days later. Up to three times as much precipitation fell as usual in January. With cold high Cooper, a rather dry, very frosty phase is now imminent.