Alpen

We no longer believed it, but the summer heatwave has come to an end and the last cold front has brought the first signs of fall, at least in the mountains. This naturally raises the question: when will the ski resorts open? We have done a bit of research and compiled a list of resorts that will open before the end of November - without guarantee and with the note that ski resort websites are notoriously unreliable when it comes to such things...

Towards the end of the season, the focus shifts more towards firn descents, north faces and challenging, narrow residual snow couloirs. The cold and dark winter period was used by a small community to work ambitiously on the ideal setup for these goals. We are now proud to present the result of our hard work.

As can be seen from the current PowderAlert, we are currently in a large-scale westerly current that is not only relatively cool but also relatively damp. The resulting snowfall in the northwest will be followed by südstau and Föhn in the north. Once again.

After the statistically inclined meteorologists have already thought it was spring since the beginning of the month, the more astronomically oriented calendars are now following suit and have also been proclaiming the new season since yesterday (March 20). Meanwhile, the weather is unimpressed by this and that and remains rather wintry as usual.

Today, Wednesday, will be cloudy and wet across the entire Alpine region with the passage of a cold front. There will be the most fresh snow on the main Alpine ridge, but there may also be the odd heavy shower in the "peripheral areas". There will probably be no alerts anywhere, those who get 20 cm can be satisfied.

At the meteorological end of winter (March 1), it is now fittingly getting warmer again after the exceptionally cold last few days.

While it's just a bit of a flurry in the northern Alps these days, the situation far to the south-east is more exciting, albeit very uncertain. Next week, a phase of extremely wintry temperatures is on the horizon across a large area.

Statistical key data on alpine accidents in 2017, presented by the Austrian Board of Trustees for Alpine Safety and the Alpine Police (BM.I): 283 people died in accidents in the Austrian Alps in 2017, 18 of them on ski tours, 13 while off-piste skiing and 27 while skiing/snowboarding on pistes and ski routes.

Snow cover without relevant weak layers is very rare, especially in the inner Alpine regions in early and high winter. In the current season, we are seeing this constellation in large parts of the Alpine arc. The snow cover is often compact and the old snow is stable.

Over the past few days, the Alps have been under the influence of an elongated low-pressure trough that has extended as far as North Africa. Most recently, a small low developed over the Iberian Peninsula, which resulted in a not overly pronounced southerly flow.

Anyone who lives in the mountains is unlikely to be complaining about the lack of winter feeling at the moment - the villages at higher altitudes are covered in deep snow and the enormous snowfalls of the last few weeks, including the resulting road closures and avalanche damage, are still very much in evidence. However, as January has been very mild, the picture is very different in the lowlands.

This year's winter season is in full swing. PowderAlerts are rattling towards the Alps every 4 days. Not surprisingly, there are constant reports of "well above average snow depth", "very high avalanche danger" and 4-5 star condition reports. An interim result of the snow depth prediction game is needed!