Just in time for the new month, the weather is being stirred up again and Ullr is finally sending us decent amounts of powder again. There's even the odd traffic jam coming our way. But first, the first alert for the coming days, which is valid until Sunday (3.2.). What's happening? The first wave of our weather change is also the heaviest and Ullr is riding in on a full-blown storm depression with quite heavy precipitation. It starts tonight (Thursday 31.1.) and really gets going on Friday. The regions will go from France along the Alpine arc to Austria, but most of it will fall from the Hautes Alpes via the lower Valais and central Switzerland to the Arlberg, as is so often the case in the west/northwest. The snow line will initially be 900-1400 m from Austria to France and will rise from France on Friday. There it will then only snow above 1800 m, while further north or in the inner Alps it may even flake above 1400-1500. With the arrival of the main precipitation, however, it will drop below 1000 m again and provide a good base until Sunday. From the Arlberg to France and deep into the Valais, 20-50 cm of snow will already fall above 1800-2000 m by tomorrow evening, depending on the westerly accumulation. Further east and south, the amounts will decrease rapidly and tend towards zero. As the snow line drops and turns to the north, an additional 40-80 cm will fall from 1200 m in the same area, as from Friday evening real northern accumulation will set in, which is often underestimated. As it is well known that north jams also have an effect further east, you can expect 35-70 cm of powder from the Arlberg to the Dachstein. Below 1000 m, you can easily expect 20-30 cm or a little more, as it will take until Saturday before snow falls here too.
In purely mathematical terms, 60-130 cm could fall above 1800-2000m in the main accumulation areas and 35-70 cm in the adjoining regions, but as the models tend to overestimate the large-scale precipitation on Friday evening and before, I would say that you can expect 60-100 cm in the core and 35-70 cm further east. Surprise potential of 10-20 cm. Due to the strong high-altitude current, however, the whole thing will also be able to penetrate deep into the Valais and along the main ridge. In the lee of the traffic jam in the south, however, it will quickly drop to zero. The whole thing will ease on Sunday and I'd say there might be a gap or two in the clouds towards the main ridge, which could be used to visit Ullr in its freshly powdered kingdom. However, the amount of snow, the storm and the harsh crusts will be problematic, so read the LLBs as the 4s are sure to come out of it! The snowfall will continue in the medium term and the models will also spit out the odd traffic jam. The carnival vacations can come. Thanks to Ullr, winter is turning the amps up to 11 and giving us the full drone again. No end in sight. Powder to the peopleYour Oracle
