Polarwirbel

The next north-westerly dust situation will snow on the northern slopes of the Alps and then spill over to the southern side of the Alps on Thursday. We notice that the polar vortex is favoring us and hope that it stays that way. Winter can begin and our new weather system is in the starting blocks.

PowderAlert has already reported it and we confirm it: All kinds of alerts in the western Alps and things are slowly getting more exciting in the east too. The western weather is producing one front after another and with a bit of luck we'll even manage a nordstau at some point this winter.

This winter can already be classified as difficult due to the below-average snow conditions and especially because of the treacherous avalanche risk situation. But all good things come from above: A circulation upheaval is planned in the stratosphere, which could greatly favor the northern slopes of the Alps in terms of upstream flow. In view of the old snow problem, we remain defensive in our route selection and look into the crystal ball of the weather below.

Various WeatherBlogs, regulars' table discussions and powder oracles have already hinted at it and we confirm: the winter weather is over for now. The infamous Omega weather pattern is currently establishing itself over Central Europe and it is already getting noticeably warmer. Whether there will be a summery Christmas, how much rain could fall and what this has to do with the polar vortex is discussed below. For the Omega weather situation, we recommend that nervous freeriders take a meditative "Ommm", inhale deeply through the nose and exhale with the belly. We hope this will help regulate stress levels for the time being.

Both the participants of the PowderGuide final meeting in Engelberg and Mose in the border triangle fully enjoyed the last snowfalls. Elsewhere, unfortunately, there was also slow glop paired with dangerous avalanche conditions. An intermediate high is currently giving us spring fever again, but will be replaced by a southerly flow with lots of precipitation at the weekend. We hope this will bring another PowderAlert, although the state of the precipitation seems to be more liquid than fluffy.

The warm, slightly foehn-like Kaiser weather of the last few days has been replaced by overcast skies and even a few snowflakes here and there. Overall, however, the weather situation in the Alps still falls into the category of boring, dull weather.

It won't get any more wintry in January. Apart from low pressure activity in the Thyrennian Sea, not much precipitating weather is to be expected. Although the western Alps will get some snow again at high altitudes, there will also be some rain. We believe that the main reason for the uneventful westerly weather is the stability and positioning of the polar vortex. Is the winter weather dead and if so, when will it rise again?

Before we head towards the Christmas snow, let's take a look at the large-scale pressure centers that rotate over the world's oceans and control our weather: The polar vortex currently has two distinct cold poles. One lies over eastern Siberia and the North Pacific. The other extends roughly from Newfoundland via Greenland to the Barents Sea and is responsible for a strong westerly current over the Atlantic, which has been bringing us "new weather" every few days for a while now.

Among meteorologists, subjective judgements such as "good" or "bad" weather are frowned upon. It's not appropriate to make such judgements; you should remain professional and neutral in any weather situation. Nevertheless, there are of course personal preferences that we can't always hide. Professionally, we tend to be enthusiastic about unusual, extreme or otherwise exciting situations that are often anything but "beautiful". Conversely, classically "nice" weather tends to be boring, especially if it lasts for weeks on end.

A westerly weather pattern is establishing itself and the short and medium-term outlook is warm and wet. We'll report on it as far as we can bear it. Then we broaden our horizons and take a look at a few well-known but distant ski destinations in the northern hemisphere and the state of the cryosphere.

The changeable spring weather is still really cold in places and at times already thundery! The meandering jet stream continues to indicate stratospheric influence and it seems that we will still experience some fluffy precipitation in April. The weather in the Alps remains unsettled and summer is still a long way off.

In any case, the high pressure is over for now and we're in for a cold snap in the next few days, hopefully with more than just cosmetic snowfall. And yes, the Alps urgently need snow! The upcoming FWT finals in Fieberbrunn and Verbier could use it, as could all of us, and finally northern Italy, which is already fearing the next summer drought. We can find reason for hope further above us, in the stratosphere.