Seealpen

"Five Rings to rule them all, Five Rings to find them, Five Rings to bring them all, and in the Powder bind them." - There is fresh snow in the Olympic region

Powder is like food. You want to enjoy it and preferably the best quality, of course. But that's where the parallels end, because you can never get enough of powder, whereas with food, if you don't indulge in decadence, as in ancient Rome, you will be full at some point.

A few days ago, there were reports on social media (not from us!) that a new, large südstau was coming. But as is the case with Ullr, Italian lows and precipitation forecasts beyond 72 hours, that was probably symbolic for social media. More hype than substance.

Merry Christmas from PowderGuide, it's always nice to get something extra for free. Ullr also gives us something extra for the last alarm.

As announced in PowderAlert 3 and the SnowChase Xmas Special, it's been snowing - sometimes heavily - from the Maritime Alps to Piedmont since Sunday morning. While people are still sitting in the dry north of the Alps, winter is knocking on the door in the south.

The year is 2025 AD. The entire Alps have been conquered by drought. The whole Alps? No, a small Ullian village in the southwest of the Alps is resisting the invasion.

After weeks of drought, there is finally some hope – at least in the south. This small snowfall could be just the beginning.

All good things come from above, but our weather mostly comes from the west. Cyclones and troughs form in the Atlantic and then wrap around the Alps with fronts and cold air intrusions. Or warm air simply rushes in from the Azores High and puts the brakes on all skiing fun. The Atlantic is Europe's weather kitchen, it's still feverishly warm and there's a bit of everything this week.

As in the age-old internet meme, Ullr asked someone how many Südstau he should send and everyone just shouted YES! And so it comes as it must. There's another Südstau and then another one or two during the weekend. Is that good? Yes and no. This one is great. Nice amounts and a good snow line. The one at the weekend will be tropically warm with 25 degrees in the north and rain above 2000 metres in the lift. And you'll hardly be able to enjoy this one, as it'll only clear up briefly and then it'll get really warm.

While freeriders in the south are literally in the green and sitting on the black branch, the north is getting the literal foehn again.

It's been a long, long time since the last alert. Unfortunately, the oracle in the last issue of PowderAlert was right: nothing happened before the beginning of February. And now it's almost the middle of February!

The situation is bleak. The oracle has currently underestimated the volumes in the foothills of the Alps, because it would actually have been enough to sound the alarm this weekend in the foothills of the Alps (5km in, but not in the Alps), but we don't want to miss the next alarm. However, it is far, far away from where the Mon Cherie cherry is grown. And only there.