Ostalpen

Last Saturday was, let's say, the most interesting day in the WeatherBlog's ski instructor career for a long time. Even getting out of the car in the pouring rain proved difficult for the entire team due to a lack of motivation. A few hundred meters up the gondola later, it was still almost as warm and still pouring, to the particular delight of those colleagues whose workplace is located on the magic carpet next to the gondola. Only at around 1800 m, at the top lift in the area, could the precipitation be described as snow with a little good will.

Ullr has a heart for the East and before it gets really warm for a few days, he really covers the almost Polish-Russian areas of the Eastern Alps.

2012 not only ended on a warm note, but was also warmer than average for the year. Over the next few days, the east can look forward to northern congestion before high pressure dominates the weather throughout the Alpine region.

As announced, here is the Thursday update. The predicted amounts of 70-100 cm have already fallen across the board and, especially in eastern Switzerland, in some cases significantly more than the 50-70 cm with the 20 cm bonus, because interestingly there was no border through central Switzerland to the main precipitation areas in the west, which is probably due to the model orography, in which the east is simulated to be less high. Even the 120 cm have become full here and there outside of France.

Spring can easily be mistaken for summer at the moment, especially on sweaty ski tours in black Gore-Tex clothing and merino wool underwear, which you only don't tear off and throw into the nearest crevasse because of certain social norms.

After about 50 cm in the east instead of the expected (and therefore not alarmed) 20 cm, there are now up to 30-40 cm more. As the accumulation in the east – as so often... see today – can also be criminally underestimated, it could also occasionally reach 60 cm. But I'm not convinced?

The most interesting weather phenomenon in the Alps at the moment is the temperature. Cold feet and light frostbite among skiers are becoming luxury problems in the wake of the current cold spell.

A summer day in the meteorological sense is a day on which the maximum daily temperature is 25°C or more. Last Sunday, April 3, was a summer day in Innsbruck with over 26°C. You can literally watch the snow melt, – the summer air licks the white off the mountains.

The Tauern highway marks the eastern end of the Alps. At least that's what many freeriders from Germany, Switzerland or even Scandinavia think. Only the very daring venture a few kilometers further east from there to satisfy their addiction on the slopes of salt mines. But beyond that, the wide, wild east really begins. Some even believe that the mountain ranges of this largely unknown region already belong to the Balkans. But what does it really look like beyond this ominous "border"? As a native of this area (which long ago formed the heartland of a country called Kakania, a fact that the region still can't quite hide today), I would like to contribute a little to the clarification of this ski-geographical no man's land and pay tribute to its characteristics from a freeriding perspective in the form of a small photo reportage.

The past few days in the northern Alps have been characterized by sunshine and foehn winds. Low pressure system Yvan slowly moved from the Iberian Peninsula to the Mediterranean and provided the southerly flow that brought us gale-force gusts last weekend. Wind speeds of 140 km/h were measured on the Patscherkofel on Saturday (12.3), 115 km/h on the Zugspitze and an impressive 104 km/h in Innsbruck city center (station at the university).

Christmas falls on December 24th every year. An area of high pressure seems to be spreading over the Alps with a similarly somnambulistic certainty. The difference to previous years: the white base is extremely clear. This makes snow sports activities on the mountain even more exciting. Despite poor snow conditions and adverse umbrella bar conditions, with a little motivation and creativity, even this adverse period can be overcome.