Alpen

It's getting dark quite early again, columns of cars are rolling up the valleys, the season ticket sales are over in many places, sports stores are advertising the latest developments in carving, Facebook contacts are posting smileys and snowflakes – the evidence points to the approach of winter. The WeatherBlog has spent the summer break watching TV and knows that on CSI, at least 2 perpetrators are convicted every week with circumstantial evidence. So it's high time to get to work and track down winter.

As some may have already noticed, a short but, as is so often the case, heavy südstau has set in in the Southern Alps. As these are always somewhat difficult to forecast, the alarm is only being issued now.

Just in time for the first significant snowfall of the still young 2011/2012 winter season, the PowderGuide team presents a new editorial addition and completes the PG weather service: The PowderAlert appears before significant new snowfall and forecasts when, where and how the snow will fall and where you have the best chance of good snow. The experienced amateur meteorologist and powder snow enthusiast Lars Oelmann presents the first PowderAlert for the period from October 8, 2011.

Just in time for the first significant snowfall of the still young 2011/2012 winter season, the PowderGuide team presents a new editorial addition and completes the PG weather service: The PowderAlert appears before significant new snowfall and forecasts when, where and how the snow will fall and where you have the best chance of good snow. The experienced amateur meteorologist and powder snow enthusiast Lars Oelmann presents the first PowderAlert for the period from October 8, 2011.

At least I haven't missed too much skiing in the last few weeks. The snow is disappearing into the highest mountains, only the lifts are still running on the glaciers and even those will soon be closed – others may be annoyed, but when you're sitting at home waiting for broken bones to grow back together, the miserable snow conditions are a small, albeit uncooperative, consolation.

At least I haven't missed too much skiing in the last few weeks. The snow is disappearing into the highest mountains, only the lifts are still running on the glaciers and even those will soon be closed – others may be annoyed, but when you're sitting at home waiting for broken bones to grow back together, the miserable snow conditions are a small, albeit uncooperative, consolation.

Winter 2011, which at least in the Northern Alps never really got going, is over, is history, or rather: simply ticked off.
PowderGuide.com is taking a summer break from May 1 to October 31, 2011.

Meteorologists, at least those who are interested in weather forecasting, usually have a favorite topic. There are, for example, the foehn fanatics and the high fog lovers. What they all have in common is that they don't like boring weather.

Monday of this week, March 21, was Poetry Day, proclaimed by the UN. Tuesday was World Water Day and Thursday is World Tuberculosis Day and the "International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims". Between water and tuberculosis and the right to truth lies World Meteorology Day, which took place on Wednesday, March 23. The day has a specific theme every year, and this year's is "Climate for you". I think that's great, so I'm going to write to the WMO and make a few requests. If there is already a "climate for us", it should also be useful.

Life without the internet is inevitably relaxed. If the only weather forecast option is a more or less attractive lady on TV who moves clouds and suns around on a vague map outline and comments on the whole thing in a foreign language, then you just get up in the morning and look out of the window.

The season is still young, but a lot has already happened in terms of weather and, above all, snow in the not-yet-quite-winter. Motivated powder fans opened many a valley run at the end of October after a friendly combination of low pressure areas north and south of the Alps left up to half a meter of fresh snow in places. Subsequently, a low pressure system in Italy caused südstau and a slowly growing base on the main ridge, while in the north almost everything was swallowed up again by the voracious Föhn.

Scando invasion. This year, Scandinavian film company Field Productions is (again) bringing a mixed freestyle and freeride ski film to the European market with "Get Lucky". Unfortunately, both the film technology and the action on offer cannot keep up with the powerful competition from overseas. Camera work, tricks, lines and the athletes' skiing technique all remain at a rather national level.