Kaltfront

It's going to be a turbulent week - the PowderAlert has already announced it. One front chases the next, all bringing precipitation, initially with relatively cool temperatures.

The days are getting shorter, the glaciers are opening ice slopes, autumnal cold fronts bring anticipation and chaos in equal measure and we are "officially" back from our summer slumber.

Today, Wednesday, will be cloudy and wet across the entire Alpine region with the passage of a cold front. There will be the most fresh snow on the main Alpine ridge, but there may also be the odd heavy shower in the "peripheral areas". There will probably be no alerts anywhere, those who get 20 cm can be satisfied.

Anyone who lives in the mountains is unlikely to be complaining about the lack of winter feeling at the moment - the villages at higher altitudes are covered in deep snow and the enormous snowfalls of the last few weeks, including the resulting road closures and avalanche damage, are still very much in evidence. However, as January has been very mild, the picture is very different in the lowlands.

As always, PowderAlert is about the existential things in life. To be or not to be; to ski or to stay at home. Decisions of Shakespearean proportions are on the agenda.

This year, the weather is once again following the perceived trend of "bathing weather at Christmas, snow at Easter" and is generally "april" for the Easter weekend. Why is it often so unstable in April?

The long awaited and since at least last week hyped northern storm has arrived. My colleague Orakel has already summarized the practical information (short version: in the east - Salzburg/STMK area - it looks best in terms of amounts and base, it will be very windy), so we are less concerned with the result of the current weather situation and more with its general structure.

After Ullr has already brought a nice winter constellation in the north and west, it's now the south's turn. There's also enough for alerts in the west, but they'll be rather short-lived. This alert is valid until Sunday morning before new precipitation sets in again on Sunday evening.

The last few days have been rather frustrating in terms of skiing in large parts of the Alps. T-shirt temperatures in the valleys and T-shirt removal temperatures at many climbing crags, rapidly dwindling snow and increasingly brownish remnants of pistes have reduced the motivation for ski touring. Why is it not really freezing at night, even though the weather is somehow "nice"? Is it going to get cold again and what's next?

Low pressure system Ruzica disturbed the carnival revelers in the German carnival strongholds on Rose Monday. Low Susanna then put the finishing touches to the whole thing last night. Together with a strong föhn wind, the carnival in the Alps was also blown away by the wind.

Apart from a few snowflakes today (Wednesday) and a not-so-spectacular cold front at the weekend, sunshine and mild temperatures are here to stay. On the occasion of the climate conference in Paris and because the weather outlook isn't particularly exciting, we're repeating a few basics today.

We are currently under the influence of a Mediterranean low whose frontal southerly flow is causing foehn winds in the northern Alps. The low is now slowly ending its rather long stay over the Iberian Peninsula and moving eastwards. The Föhn should be over here by Thursday and the unusually rainy days in the Sahara(!) will also come to an end. The precipitation already present on the southern slopes of the Alps will spread to the north, where it will be supported by a cold front from the NW.