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PowderAlert 18 2015/16 | Imagine it's winter and nobody goes there!

Cold powder, and not in short supply!

by Lars Oelmann • 04/21/2016
Ullr doesn't let himself get carried away and unpacks high winter weather conditions after most ski resorts close. With the exception of Ullr's disciples, people everywhere are complaining about it.

The areas & period

This first alert goes until Monday morning and actually it would be wiser to wait until tomorrow morning as I'm breaking my 48 hour rule here, but it's relatively clear what's supposed to happen and only then will there be a small break in the precipitation and I'm probably quite busy at the weekend too.

The areas are essentially the entire northern slope of the Alps from northern France to the Rax, although the focus will probably be from northern France to the Arlberg due to the position of the trough. Some models are also expecting something in the south/southeast due to leeward developments over northern Italy, but I'm rather skeptical about that.

The snow line: will no longer be a problem from Saturday evening and it will snow all the way down to the green meadows.

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The wind

Will of course blow in the high mountains, but far from gale or hurricane force, so there should be relatively nice powder even further up, especially in the accumulation areas.

The amounts until Monday

From Tyrol to the east, 25-40cm of snow should fall and in one or two backwater holes, even half a meter could be full.

In the core from northern France to the Arlberg, 40-70cm of snow will fall and it will be very nice. In individual potholes, especially from the northern Valais to the Glanerland, I would assume a possible 80-90cm as the upper limit. Whether the magic meter is reached somewhere depends extremely on whether a strong shower track can establish itself in the cold high-altitude air and whether it then hits appropriately. But: It's cold and it's a real northerly storm, which means there are more surprises upwards than downwards, as is usually the case with warm spring alerts.

What should I do?

You don't need to worry about snow on Saturday because the weather is already bad, the snow line is too high and you can sleep in for a day or have a drink on Friday evening. Sunday is the exciting question of whether you can get into the trees yet? I think it depends, because there's hardly enough base in any forest or on an alpine pasture in the northern Alps, so I wouldn't set off until the measuring stations show 30-40cm and you know where you're going. Monday, on the other hand, should be a definite green light for your favorite alpine pasture. You can only get up high on both days if you like braille skiing in the fog.

Outlook

It remains snow-friendly. It's not yet clear whether you'll be able to get up high on Tuesday or later in the week. Will it snow even more? There is a good chance that an alert will be issued on Monday evening or Tuesday. On that note: stay tuned and stay greedy for Ullr's presents, because #shortpants-icecafé-spring is only for the others! Distinction through faceshots!

Powder to the people!

Your oracle

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