Alpen

Warm, unsettled westerly weather will dominate the Alpine region. With fresh winds and a high snow line, minor disturbances will keep moving through, initially on Friday night and Sunday. Otherwise, it will be reasonably bright and, as mentioned, warm. The westward slide will continue into next week. The possibility of a downstream development from the middle of next week offers some hope, but as usual this is still very uncertain.

Given the normality with which people from all over Europe enjoy winter sports in the Alps today, it is always surprising that this movement only began around 100 years ago. In a very interesting two-part documentary, Katharina Schickling presents the eventful history of skiing in Bavaria, which is representative of the dramatically changed approach to the winter mountains.

Unfortunately, the weather in the Alps continues to be rather stagnant and warm. A persistent trough in the North Atlantic is directing very warm air masses towards us. In the Alps, minor disturbances alternate with sunshine, while further north it has been and will continue to be very stormy (but still warm). A lasting change in the general weather situation is not in sight.

In all probability, 2015 will be the warmest year on record. This has been on the cards for a long time and everyone has probably noticed by now. Recently, the WMO issued another press release explaining this once again. It also mentioned that 2011-2015 was the warmest five-year period on record.

As explained by our colleague Orakel, a north-westerly current will bring a supply of snow to the NW congestion areas, which are already in a better position. In the south, winter is still a long time coming and there is a threat of spring on the horizon at the meteorological start of winter.

The WeatherBlog is currently receiving a lot of questions about El Niño, which is this year - or was it La Niña? What is all this again and what does it mean for the Alps? Haven't we covered this topic before? Yes, we have. To start with: there is still no clear, statistically definitive correlation between El Niño and the Alpine winter that anyone can agree on.

There's no end to late summer. At the weekend, a weak cold front will touch the northern Alps and bring some cooling, perhaps even a little snow for the optics. Next week, however, the tough November high will return and it will be business as usual for the time being. A onset of winter in the desired sense is not in sight (not even at the weekend).

Winter returned with a roar over the Easter holidays. Hurricane Niklas was followed by further disturbances embedded in a strong NW current and snow and cold down to the valleys. Easter Monday seemed more like a successful St. Stephen's Day. This impression was only disturbed by the occasional rumble of thunder.

The WeatherBlog has various other commitments in addition to its weekly activity here on PG, in the course of which it occasionally engages in literature research on various topics.

Chef Ullr has realized that powder-hungry people in the northwest of the Alps have only been served lousy food for a while now and is trying to change that: by preparing a delicious northwest current for you and sprucing up the run-down northern Alps, just like his colleagues on TV do with the restaurants. But first there's something quick for in between, a powder snack so to speak.

January may have felt relatively wintry, but the statistics have no feelings. February, on the other hand, is currently spring-like in the mountains, while the lowlands are often bobbing along under a blanket of inversion-induced fog.

The WeatherBlog apologizes for the late appearance this week, but our colleague Orakel has everything under control as usual. As he has already vaguely announced, there is a very high probability of extremely interesting weather next week.