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PowderAlert 13 2021/22 | North jam, where (almost) everything fits!

But only almost, because unfortunately another hurricane is coming.

by Lars Oelmann 02/20/2022
At last. The time has come. Ullr sends us a traffic jam where it doesn't rain heavily, it doesn't warm up immediately, or the Dutch and Piefkes invade the promised land of Tyrol. (Because they're more likely to go to Switzerland this time).

Unfortunately, as is so often the case, it will be extremely windy again. On the other hand, it will probably remain quite cool and there is likely to be a small refresh on a soft basis at the weekend. All in all, it will finally be normal winter, albeit not until the end of February.

Alert period and areas

The alert will extend from northern France to the Rax in the east, but the core will stretch from northern Valais to the Arlberg.

The alert will continue in the west until around Tuesday afternoon and then it will settle to such an extent that the few centimetres in the night to Wednesday will not bring much more. From the Arlberg to the east, it will probably last until Wednesday afternoon, as there could still be some good snow during the night. It starts tonight (Sunday) evening.

Wind

Spring is letting its hurricane-like band flutter over the peaks and it's storming without end. There are full gale-force gusts in the mountains. It will become more pleasant towards Wednesday, but then the precipitation will also be over. After all, in addition to monstrous drifting snow (3 noble Es!), there are also full amounts as far as the Tyrolean glacier valleys, northern Grisons, deep into Valais and the Tauern ridge in the east.

Snowfall line

Always fluctuates between 700 and 1000m in the inner Alps and around 1000-1300m in the foothills of the Alps. Monday afternoon to Tuesday morning I would assume it will be at the very bottom in the intensive accumulation areas.

The amounts

The models are still at odds and Ullr is not so easy to look at the cards. "Our" PowderGuide model looks a little optimistic. Others are only predicting around half of that.

In France and the lower Valais, we're looking at around 40-60cm, and 70cm in the backwater areas towards the core. 50-80cm is coming in the core and the question is whether the meters will fall sporadically. But I'm a bit undecided about the wind and say it won't be widespread, because you need a lot of moisture in the base layer and little wind for accumulation surprises. From the Arlberg eastwards it will be 30-50cm.

Where should I go?

On Monday, you can already enjoy a little refresh here and there, but the intense snowfall won't start until Monday during the day, so you should rather stay in open areas below the tree line. Above that you'll be blown away by Wednesday anyway. You can get into the trees anywhere on Tuesday and it should be deep in the core if you can find a spot with little wind. I would tend to look for places in the lee on the east side or valleys with a north-south profile, because everything blows through from the west.

Wednesday the sun comes out and you can go up. However, it will be really tricky.

After that it will stay cool and on Friday it will start to snow again, although there will probably be no alarm. There should be a few tours at the weekend with sunshine. Possibly even exciting stuff with powder conditions, as the snow is supposed to come on Friday with little wind.

Mid-term

Nothing is permanent and it looks like massive warmth again from the weekend. So: From Tuesday "do home office" or spend the vacation of the "jecken Zick ab Wieverfastelovend" (dear children, that was Kölsch and stands for the carnival season) in the mountains.

Snow height tip game

The snow height tip game takes place at the station "Fitteren" in Glarus from 20.2. to 22.2. 17:00h: Write your tip by Monday, 2/21 13:00 either here as a comment, or in the Forum.

Powder to the people!

Your Oracle

This article has been automatically translated by DeepL with subsequent editing. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors or if the translation has lost its meaning, please write an e-mail to the editors.

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