Inversion

Hurrah, it's snowing! The WeatherBlog has been skiing and the air has once again glistened so beautifully. We wonder why. Unfortunately, the glittering, original and organic snow produced in real clouds is not yet enough for skiing everywhere, so we also look at some interesting aspects of artificial snow production.

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.

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.

After the first powder days of winter 2013/14 and high-pressure weather, the weather will become more unstable again at the weekend.

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.

In 2011, we want to take a leaf out of the book of the ubiquitous annual reviews. As a skier, you usually think more in terms of winters and less in terms of calendar years, but if you sprinkle a few key statistical data points into the weather talk with strangers on the lift, you come across as incredibly well-educated, which rarely hurts.

It is currently becoming clear how little sense the idea of "good" and "bad" weather makes. If you have too much of one, it soon becomes the other. The extremely dry November is increasing the risk of forest fires, particulate matter concentrations in the basins are reaching record levels and, unsurprisingly, almost all ski resorts without glaciers are postponing their openings. Some weather stations in the Alps will probably end November with 0.0 mm of precipitation.

After a fantastic powder day on Thursday last week (16.12.), we had slightly frozen noses and a little toe that didn't really want to thaw out. On Friday, a chairlift acquaintance complained bitterly about the weather in general and the snow in particular, saying it couldn't be that it had been snowing for three weeks and the wife at home in Germany had to clear the snow again. In fact, this is already the second ski vacation where the sun never shines and it is also far too cold and in future he would stay at home?

There is a lot of complaining at the moment in the illustrious circles of powder fans. Almost no snowflakes in sight; sun, sun and more sun. Is the umbrella bar and frustrating flirtations with bored housewives from the Ruhr really the only thing left to do between the years?