Italientief

After a small Italian low pressure system brought between 20 and 30 cm of fresh snow to the south (even just above the alert limit in the Julian Alps), it's now time for some fresh snow in the northwest.

PA 15 had it all. The fact that a continuous blanket of snow forms in April even in the valleys - even if only briefly - is not completely unusual from a climatological point of view, but it is rather unexpected. Especially if you were still wearing a T-shirt just beforehand! What's more, it snowed both north and south of the main Alpine ridge! What was going on?

New winter, new happiness. All aboard the Pow Train! Uh, or something like that. Nice to be back. Now that there's a minimal base from 2000-2200m, which even goes further down in places, you might even be able to ride the upcoming minidump carefully. Ullr is slowly warming up and will be sending some supplies until Wednesday evening to even out the settlement. In the east, however, there could already be quite a lot after this alarm.

A decent dump is coming to the southwest of the Alps. It's still cold enough for powder and there's a lot of it coming down, so there's nothing wrong with a weekend in the south.

There is finally cold powder again, unfortunately there is only an alert in the south-east, while in the north only small amounts fall just below the alert. The westernmost tips of France and Switzerland could be an exception.

An Italian low causes strong südstau. This is followed by a cold front in the north and then mild westerly weather. Cold air masses in north-eastern Canada are responsible for the latter, favoring the development of low pressure in the Atlantic.

A normal, cool autumn, a new cold snap at the weekend, a new Italian low. When it's on, it's on, thinks winter and relies on tried and tested weather patterns.

Similar to the last Bundesliga alarm, Ullr continues undeterred and brings us powder in painter mode. Because there are no isolated, brilliant mega-dumps from an eccentric artist god, but honest work, precisely for fans of the middle part of the Bundesliga who value consistency and regularity. And just as the skilled worker brings home a reliable pay packet every week, Ullr brings us our weekly refresh.

The signs are still pointing to winter. A northerly current is carrying polar air masses towards the Alps. It's snowing and it's staying cold or getting colder, at least in Europe. If anyone is interested in the weather at the North Pole: it's getting warm there.

At the meteorological start of spring, it's getting wintry on the southern slopes of the Alps. The rapid change of mild, partly foehn-like weather on the front of the trough, followed by the fronts last night and today during the course of the day, is causing a turbulent PowderAlert with interesting amounts of fresh snow, but also strong storms.

Ullr finally thinks to himself again: "Oh, while I'm here, there'll be snow again". Thank goodness, you have to say, because there hasn't been much in France and western Switzerland so far. With the recent dump, you can probably go skiing there too. With the handbrake on. (Have there already been days without a handbrake this winter?)

To kick off the 2016/17 WeatherBlog season, we are addressing a topical question from PG user Peleiade: "What do I need to read? The polar vortex is weakening, extreme mildness in the Aleutian Islands and there is even a threat of a polar vortex split in early November? What does that mean in terms of fresh snow?"