Lea Hartl

The last issue of this column dealt with the so-called planetary boundaries, which show how much change the system can tolerate in various areas and at what point it becomes critical. It is not only in the context of planetary boundaries that the discourse on environmental change is increasingly focusing on tipping points. What is behind the buzzword?

Last week, the WeatherBlog received the following user question: "How are weather patterns and global warming connected? Does the frequency of warm weather increase in times of global warming? Or has the frequency of different weather conditions remained the same, but they have all become warmer?"

The current omega situation will continue to bring us warm temperatures and sunshine. On Friday, there is a chance of change in the form of more clouds and perhaps even some (light) precipitation in the north, then mostly sunny but slightly cooler again at the weekend. There is currently no sign of winter.

Easy come, easy go: The cold spell is over and will be replaced by Atlantic disturbances, which will initially bring some precipitation before sunshine and very warm temperatures prevail at the weekend.

The Wildspitze model is a classic in the gloves line-up from PowderGuide partner Zanier. The gloves were developed in collaboration with the Austrian Mountain Rescue Service and offer a good compromise between a feeling of movement and warmth.

After the interesting contrast of Sahara feeling in the Alps and snow chaos in the northern German lowlands, the cold is now making its way south. The coming weekend will be very cold with lots of sunshine. There will still be a little snow here and there today and tomorrow, but the coming cold phase will be mostly dry.

Most of the avalanche transceiver and airbag manufacturers were not represented at the virtual ISPO. Ortovox presented a talking avalanche transceiver at the same time as but not "at" ISPO. ABS announced a new release mechanism for airbags for 21/22 and Black Diamond presented an avalanche transceiver similar to the Pieps Micro in Black Diamond colors. There was little else new to report in this area of equipment.

Short version of the forecast: The next few days will be very, very warm. Still wet today, then mostly sunny. Cooling with the option of snow down to low altitudes, probably at the beginning of next week.

Overall, the weather will continue to be changeable and prone to precipitation, with a significantly fluctuating snow line. Over the next few days, Atlantic low-pressure areas will repeatedly reach us, which will be steered towards the Alps from the west. Due to the alternation of warm air at the front of the trough and colder air at the back of the trough, temperatures will be on a rollercoaster.

The special feature of the Scott Shield ski goggles is the Amplifier lens, which adapts to changing light conditions and, according to the manufacturer, only lets through the "important" wavelengths and blocks less useful wavelength ranges.

A southerly foehn will end the cold, snowy winter weather phase in the northern Alps for the time being. The controlling low lies over the British Isles and, as is so often the case, warm air from the southwest will be brought to the Alpine arc. In the north, the next few days will be characterized by Föhn winds, in the south it will be cloudy with - depending on the altitude - liquid or solid accumulated precipitation.

After the labyrinthine social distancing lift queuing system had brought us together by chance and we had taken our seats as far apart from each other as possible in the four-seater chair, my lift colleague mumbled through his FFP2 mask: "A temperature like in winter!"