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PowderAlert 8 2018/19 | All good (?) things come in fives!

Another northern traffic jam, this time more to the west.

by Lars Oelmann 01/12/2019
The fifth northern storm in a row and the ZAMG is talking about 30 to 100-year events in the east without this alarm. And once again, huge amounts will arrive by Tuesday. But thanks to Ullr, this time the core is further west.

"All good things come in fives," thinks Ullr and invents a new saying. For a comparable series of five massive Nordstau periods within just over two weeks, you have to dig a long time in the archives and even the movie franchises, which I like to use here for inspiration, don't give much more apart from various star sagas and Fast and Furious. Normally, it's over after the usual trilogies and even three northern jams in a row are a rarity.

In some places, we're already in the range of long-standing records before Alarm 8, all of which would otherwise be from March or February. This shows just how exceptional this northbound traffic jam has been in recent weeks. But everything has an end (only the sausage has two) and this alert should be followed by a longer period of relaxation, but more on that in the medium term.

In this alert, Ullr remains at warp 5 and goes to the edge of the known snow depth universe, so to speak. Whether there will really be records in the east then will certainly depend on how well it jams up there, but we're not missing much. We're still a long way from records in the west, but in eastern Switzerland and on the Arlberg there should also be an exceptional amount of snow after this alarm. Again, there will be far more than a meter, but this time the core is in the west.

Alert period and areas

This alert goes from northern France all the way east to the Rax. There are large amounts from the Bernese Oberland to the east, with the core with the really wild totals from the Bernese Oberland to the Arlberg.

This alert goes until noon on Tuesday.

Wind

It pushes up to the main ridge, we have gales and severe storms. The SLF thinks a 5 is possible on Monday and nobody can or wants to ride up there anyway. You already know this from the last alerts. This alert is no tamer than its apocalyptic predecessors.

Snow line

This time, the snow line will only drop again towards the end of the precipitation. In general: colder in the east than in the west. At first it will snow far down, but during the night it will rise to 700-900m in the deep east, 900-1100m towards Arlberg and 1300-1500m in the far west. It could stay lower in the inner Alps, but it is almost impossible to predict whether it will stay snowy in the Chur Rhine Valley or the Inn Valley, for example, as it depends on the wind direction, precipitation intensity, mixing and local wind effects.

The amounts

There will be amounts in the meter range again. From northern France to northern Valais, 60-100cm, with more in the east towards the Bernese Oberland and less in the west. In the hard core from the Bernese Oberland to the Arlberg there will be 120-160cm of fresh snow, in congested areas towards Glarner Land or Arlberg I can also imagine up to 2m again, but there are also some models in the crystal ball that stop at 1.5m even in the congested areas. Further east, 60-100cm is possible, although deep in the east in the direction of the Rax it is more likely to stay at the lower end of this range or just below it.

Where should I go?

Up to and including Tuesday in the trees. In Valais or northern France, I wouldn't go into the trees until Monday, as there was hardly anything there before and Sunday is certainly less good. Tomorrow (Sunday) I would go somewhere in the direction of the Arlberg or eastern Switzerland, as the crowds there are already very nice but not yet threatening. Then for Monday and Tuesday I'd wait and see what's still open.

It's not quite clear yet whether it will open up on Tuesday, but if it does, it's more likely to be in the west. But to be honest, you haven't lost anything up there yet anyway and not much will open up.

Wednesday and Thursday will be calmer and you can slowly feel your way higher depending on the situation report and openings. Since so much snow is falling again, there will certainly be delayed openings.

Mid-term

It will remain quite cool or cold and it may snow again towards the weekend, but in my crystal ball I don't see an apocalypse in the foreseeable future. Ullr is resting and switching back to normal. That's nice too! The cold powder stays powder and nobody feels threatened by it anymore. The sun should come out every now and then, so you should be able to go on a tour above the tree line again.

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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