Föhn

As usual this winter, the Alps are experiencing a strong westerly current. After a few cold, wet days, spring is returning today (Wednesday) with full force and zero degrees around 3000m.

It's snowing again in the west and a little in the north too, but that's not quite part of this alert. Or half of it. And it's getting warm too, but not everywhere. As you can see, it's not easy to get Ullr's gifts out to the people this time, because Alert 16 is a little moodier than the great Alerts 14 and 15.

Storm Sabine, which was very present in the media and also in the weather, has left us again. The changeable westerly weather is still with us, but not quite as stormy.

The new year begins as the old one ends: lots of sunshine, mild temperatures at high altitudes, cold in the valleys due to inversions and nocturnal radiation into the mostly starry sky. The flow will remain west to southwest and there is no significant precipitation in sight for the time being.

Ullr seems to have taken pity on the sad locals and holidaymakers on the northern side of the Alps and let it snow there too. Unfortunately, this is just a drop in the ocean for the areas that have been hit the hardest. From central Switzerland eastwards, the sharks will be able to swim again and grab some tasty p-tex, but the alarm won't be enough for real freeriding.

Now that Star Wars is finally (really?!) coming to an end and Skywalker's heirs are beginning their final space ride, an exciting pre-Christmas week is about to begin. Ullr has had enough of far too high temperatures and in the coming südstau there is at least the chance of good snow again in the western Southern Alps. And that's just the beginning. May the force be with us!

The current southerly foehn conditions are almost creating a summer feeling, especially in western Austria and parts of Switzerland: in Feldkirch (Vorarlberg), 20°C were measured at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, and temperatures were also close to the 20° mark at some other stations on Tuesday morning.

The traffic jam has cleared and the west highway has been closed by Ullr. After all, our Scandinavian god is still not idle and is once again turning his attention to the south of the Alps.

While the southern side of the Alps can already boast a more than decent base, the north is still struggling for the most part, especially at lower altitudes. It has recently been warm on both sides of the main ridge - in the south with rain up to high altitudes, in the north with snow-eating Föhn winds and in the center with gale-force winds. A change in the general weather situation is now bringing change.

After our colleague Orakel has already reported four times, it's high time for the WeatherBlog to return from its summer slumber. We are starting the season with a classic overview of the very interesting general weather situation:

A strong low pressure system is approaching the Alpine region from the west and a southerly flow is developing in front of the trough with Föhn on the northern slopes of the Alps and increasing accumulating precipitation in the south. Today, Wednesday, it is already snowing heavily in the west, while in the east it is still mostly dry, at least in the north, with a strong Föhn wind.

The interplay of windy, warmer, colder, sunny and wet continues. Embedded in a strong westerly current, new disturbances are constantly reaching the Alps. Small changes in the direction of flow on both sides of the Alps sometimes lead to foehn, then again to accumulating precipitation.