Alpen

Colleague Sebastian dedicated last week's WeatherBlog to the new PG weather, because of course it deserves such a dedication and because he didn't just want to "moan about the weather forecast". I, on the other hand, love to moan and have no inhibitions about making up for it this week for both of us!

The warm, slightly foehn-like Kaiser weather of the last few days has been replaced by overcast skies and even a few snowflakes here and there. Overall, however, the weather situation in the Alps still falls into the category of boring, dull weather.

Fresh snow, storms, high avalanche risk in places - winter was barely declared dead before it was back, at least for a few days. Thanks to the fresh snow of the last few days, the snow depth on the main Swiss ridge is approaching the average again, but without replenishment and with settling, it won't stay that way for long. If you can, you should enjoy the snow with due caution while winter is still within reach.

It won't get any more wintry in January. Apart from low pressure activity in the Thyrennian Sea, not much precipitating weather is to be expected. Although the western Alps will get some snow again at high altitudes, there will also be some rain. We believe that the main reason for the uneventful westerly weather is the stability and positioning of the polar vortex. Is the winter weather dead and if so, when will it rise again?

All good things come from above, but our weather mostly comes from the west. Cyclones and troughs form in the Atlantic and then wrap around the Alps with fronts and cold air intrusions. Or warm air simply rushes in from the Azores High and puts the brakes on all skiing fun. The Atlantic is Europe's weather kitchen, it's still feverishly warm and there's a bit of everything this week.

You're supposed to have good intentions in the new year and the oracle wants to be less serene and more enthusiastic in his old age. Ullr also takes heart and wants to give us more powder.

Cheers to the New Year! The Christmas period of high pressure is coming to an end and 2025 will bring a change in the weather - it's about time! A cold front will bring some variety and even a bit of precipitation from tomorrow. The outlook for the coming week is still very uncertain. Depending on the mood of the Azores High, the options range from mild westerly weather to an Atlantic block with an outbreak of cold air over Central Europe.

The heavens have given us plenty of presents for Christmas. It's still cool at the moment and there's still plenty of powder under the northern slopes of the Alps. But we are also thinking of all those on the southern slopes of the Alps who are unfortunately more likely to go for a walk in the foehn this year.

The time has come. The Oracle says "all systems go", squeezes into the skintight clothing of an attractive pit crew member, as found in motor racing, and waves the green flag, officially heralding the start of the Christmas race.

Before we head towards the Christmas snow, let's take a look at the large-scale pressure centers that rotate over the world's oceans and control our weather: The polar vortex currently has two distinct cold poles. One lies over eastern Siberia and the North Pacific. The other extends roughly from Newfoundland via Greenland to the Barents Sea and is responsible for a strong westerly current over the Atlantic, which has been bringing us "new weather" every few days for a while now.

In many places, the Alps are a winter wonderland. Nevertheless, we have a mixed assessment of the start of the season. There has been some nice precipitation, but none of it has been heavy. The snow conditions across the Alps are neither bad nor good for mid-December. The prospects for new snow are similar. I therefore describe the situation with the beautiful Spanish proverb: ni fu ni fa.

As we all know, the WeatherBlog likes it when things are happening in the weather kitchen and suffers from acute boredom, which turns into restlessness if the weather stays the same for too long. We are therefore pleased to be able to announce: Something is happening! The next few days offer (almost) everything that Alpine weather can do.