Alpen

To kick off the 2016/17 WeatherBlog season, we are addressing a topical question from PG user Peleiade: "What do I need to read? The polar vortex is weakening, extreme mildness in the Aleutian Islands and there is even a threat of a polar vortex split in early November? What does that mean in terms of fresh snow?"

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.

What was in short supply during the height of winter is now being made up for: With a strong push of cold air over Central Europe, the next late winter interlude is on the horizon for the weekend. Gardening enthusiasts should perhaps not put frost-sensitive plants outside just yet, while winter lovers will be delighted with the polar air expected by the models.

The last few days have been rather frustrating in terms of skiing in large parts of the Alps. T-shirt temperatures in the valleys and T-shirt removal temperatures at many climbing crags, rapidly dwindling snow and increasingly brownish remnants of pistes have reduced the motivation for ski touring. Why is it not really freezing at night, even though the weather is somehow "nice"? Is it going to get cold again and what's next?

Is it perhaps the last alarm? It's snowing, but only in the high mountains. The last few weeks have seen a few flakes here and there, but not large amounts all at once. At least the March temperatures have remained bearable in contrast to the last few years. But spring is here, even here in Alaska, where one temperature record after another is being broken and we are now going on spring tours for the last few days.

The WeatherBlog has stumbled across some strange conspiracy theories and is calling for reflection and not believing everything on the internet. It's a bit like the supposedly waist-deep snow on Instagram that only reaches as far as the second buckle on your ski boots. What's more, the ECMWF now has a powerful computer and is better at forecasting.

As in a theater play, the coming snowfall is divided into several acts that actually belong together, as there are only minimal breaks between the precipitation.

The meteorological winter (December, January, February) has been over since Monday. In Austria, it went down in the statistics as the second warmest winter in recorded history at 2.7° above the long-term average, and in Germany it was also 3.4° warmer than the average. In Austria, only 2006/07 was warmer, 2013/14 was just as warm. This means that five of the 10 warmest winters in the 250-year measurement history have occurred in the last 10 years. Nevertheless, and because the weather is known to not always stick to the calendar, it was, is and will be relatively wintry, at least in the mountains. We take a closer look at this below.

Last weekend was interesting in terms of weather and regrettable in terms of skiing. After heavy rain during the night, temperatures of around 20 degrees were measured in many places during the day on Sunday. The leader in Austria was Pottschach (Lower Austria) with 23.2° - a new national record for February. What was going on?

The good news first: there's enough for an alert until Sunday. But it will be very warm after the snowfall and the limit will also rise during the snowfall, so you'll have to get up high on Sunday if you want to find powder in the northern Alps.

Low pressure system Ruzica disturbed the carnival revelers in the German carnival strongholds on Rose Monday. Low Susanna then put the finishing touches to the whole thing last night. Together with a strong föhn wind, the carnival in the Alps was also blown away by the wind.

The snow from the last alarm came and went. The waxing and waning of Alert 7 is over and the rain slurry is now freezing to the new base, where it hasn't been washed away. And it's going to get a surprisingly nice pack of snow by Friday.