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PowderAlert 20 2017/18 | Dolce Vita in the southwest

Powder, pizza and clichés before the Siberian cold arrives.

by Lars Oelmann 02/22/2018
A decent dump is coming to the southwest of the Alps. It's still cold enough for powder and there's a lot of it coming down, so there's nothing wrong with a weekend in the south.

The WeatherBlog has announced it and before Ullr's icy fist comes from Siberia to the northern Alps and torments everyone with -20° Celsius and cutting winds, he brings snow to the Italian south-western Alps with the same weather situation and a small Italian low. So Ullr also has a weakness for the finer things in life!

Alert period and areas

This alert goes from the Gran Paradiso to the Maritime Alps, with a core from the Turin Alps to the Maritime Alps.

Smaller snowfalls are also accumulating in eastern Östrerich, but nothing that should reach the alert threshold of 30cm in 24h. All in all, together with the previous amounts, it could be quite nice on the border between Styria and Carinthia in the southeast.

Other than that, it will only be bitterly cold without amounts of fresh snow that are beyond cosmetic.

The alert is in effect until noon on Sunday, although a few more centimetres could fall by Monday.

Wind

It's only a small low, but a powerful ice high in the north and the pressure difference that the Siberian air will bring on Sunday also has quite a bit of wind in petto on Saturday. Above, it will get stormy briefly on Saturday during the main precipitation, which will cause drifts, especially with the light cold snow.

Snowfall line

Varies between far below and a maximum of around 1000-1200m on Saturday, so it's very suitable for powder in the region, as everything usually happens higher up.

The amounts

Vary between 30-60cm from Gran Paradiso to the Turin Alps. There it suddenly increases because the direction of accumulation is from the east. Up to the Maritime Alps it could be 60-100cm of fresh snow. Somewhere there in the core of the Maritime Alps possibly a few cm more.

Some models suggest that the snowfall will extend to the north as far as Monte Rosa, but I don't really see this in alarming amounts because there is more of an east to northeast component.

Where should I go?

Friday in the Maritime Alps in the trees, because there's already about 20cm there and there's more to come by tomorrow. Saturday in the core area in the trees, because it's snowing heavily there.

Sunday will be very cold and it won't snow much more, but it won't break up and you should continue to play in the trees, possibly go touring when everything is tracked. On Monday there may be gaps in the clouds in the arctic air in the north of the alert area, but not in the south. But you might be able to go to a ski resort that has both trees and alpine terrain.

Tuesday it should clear up, but that's so far away that I can't guarantee it. What I can guarantee are arctic temperatures on the southern side of the Alps too. In the north, it will be really unpleasant for a few days from Sunday and even dangerously cold with the wind chill.

Mid-term

What comes after the cold is once again completely unclear. For us powderhounds, however, Ullr has hidden treats in some models with luff mass boundaries over the Alps or new Mediterranean lows. However, there are also terrible warm and humid spring ideas in other models. Keep your fingers crossed at the Ullr shrine so that the right idea prevails in the fog of the crystal ball.

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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