Föhn

Over the past few days, the weather in the Alpine region has been dominated by a strong westerly current produced by a low over northern Europe and a high in the south. The high in the south was strong enough to steer most of the disturbances north of the Alps. It was warm and sunny in Austria and Bavaria, while it poured down in northern Germany, which is at least a little less summery.

Most people are rubbing their eyes in amazement, because as soon as the northern congestion has melted away again, the next dump comes. And this time Ullr's disciples have a little dejavue, because that's what it looked like all the time in 13/14, right? Catastrophic amounts of snow in the south and warm foehn in the north.

Today, the WeatherBlog is happy about the successes of modern science. As a student at an advanced stage, you occasionally ask yourself why you are actually doing what you are doing and who benefits from it. The usefulness of your own doctoral or master's thesis in particular may be questionable, but occasionally science in general achieves something cool and then you have the feeling that somehow and in general something is going right.

From a meteorological point of view, spring begins at the beginning of March, which we, as well as various weather services, take as an opportunity to look at a few key statistical data. Otherwise: A greeting from the desert turns the snow yellow.

The northern congestion was short-lived and we fall back into a south-westerly situation that is quite impressive: While there are warnings of heavy snowfall and high to very high avalanche danger on the southern slopes of the Alps, the north can expect a mild foehn.

The general weather situation and the associated weather remains unchanged, at least for the time being. A change is in the offing at the beginning of next week. What exactly it will bring, however, is uncertain.

The weather is not interested in the turn of the year and continues as before. The next accumulation of precipitation is due in the south, while the drought continues in the north.

The WeatherBlog was inspired by the ski instructor today and is in a bad mood, so just a brief overview:

It's time for the Christmas alert and some people seem to have been good and written Powder on Santa's wish list. Since Ullr and Santa Claus always hang out together, he of course immediately passed this on to Ullr over a beer and we are properly rewarded with südstau. But apparently some people on the north side of the Alps were naughty, so it stays foehn there for the time being and only starts to snow later and less.

It's not winter yet, neither in meteorological nor in calendar terms. Nor is there much snow yet. Nevertheless, with the unconditional cheerfulness of the annually greeting marmot, it has been suggested for a few weeks now that something is ready. Online portals that have gone into summer hibernation are waking up again, the glaciers are filling up with ski clubs from central Germany, and if you believe the tracks in the off-piste terrain, which is sometimes really difficult, then even the average freerider seems to be blessed with a surplus of pre-season motivation.

The general weather situation discussed in the last blog has not changed significantly. A strong high over Scandinavia is blocking the westerly wind drift across the Atlantic, allowing cold air from the north-east to penetrate far into Central Europe. Low pressure systems are forced to move into the Mediterranean region and pass south of the Alps.

Over the past week, the entire Alpine region has enjoyed fantastic sunny and stable weather. If you looked dreamily down into the valley while taking a breather on the ascent or enjoying a cappuccino on the sun terrace, you could often see a brown-yellow haze or even a low-lying layer of cloud.