Weihnachtstauwetter

Fortunately, this season got off to a very snowy start and provided a good foundation. It stayed that way until shortly before Christmas. The so-called Christmas thaw materialised just in time for Christmas.

The mild westerly weather will continue for a few more days before it gets colder and more unsettled again, at least briefly, at the weekend. The outlook in the crystal ball is not overly wintry, with the westerly flow tending to stay with us.

Due to the turbulent weather, the thin snow cover and fluctuating temperatures, we are moving from one avalanche problem to the next. Starting with an early winter old snow problem, we have recently been dealing with wild snow as a weak layer through to a very disruptive drift snow problem.

This freeride year is starting like the old one ended. Tough and with little snow. And Christmas brings little relief, because true to the motto "champagne or seltzer", seltzer or a shower is the order of the day for most of us. It rains all the way up and the almost non-existent snow cover continues to thaw. In the high mountains, the converted scrap is covered with drift snow. Fantastic views.... not!

A user question has reached the WeatherBlog: How many days per winter is there snow in Obergurgl? Where can you find data on this? We are always happy to receive questions and especially those that we can answer to some extent! The weather is not very Christmassy, with little snow and too warm, so we prefer to think about other things and today we are looking at weather data from Obergurgl.

From 12 to 13 December, a warm front swept in and quickly dashed the anticipation of a white Christmas. Accompanying the rise in temperature, it rained in some areas up to around 2000-2300 m, but the amount of rain was quite low. During the night from 13 to 14 December, the temperature dropped again and it cleared up. The snow surface, which had been moistened by the warmth and rain, cooled down again and a cover formed - resulting in broken slush.

Good news for the Northern Alps! The Christmas thaw is still raging at the moment, but from Thursday evening it will get colder from the north with snow down to low altitudes. Presumably, a Christmas alarm will go out in the northern congested areas. We are eagerly awaiting a message from the oracle!

Western weather will bring repeated disturbances over the next few days with significantly milder temperatures than recently. By Friday, considerable amounts of fresh snow in the west, albeit with a very high snow line.

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 pre-Christmas snow streak in the east at the end of the week is followed by a milder phase over the holidays. Plus: 2017 was pretty warm overall, little ice in the polar regions and continued trouble with the weather on the internet.

A Mediterranean low brings a base to the south, while the north hopes that even small animals make dung.

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.