WeatherBlog 10 2023/14 | Continued sunny weather in the west

Current situation and outlook

In the last issue of the WeatherBlog, Sebastian had to move overseas due to his lack of interest in the local westerly weather. I'm facing the same challenge this week - high pressure westerly weather, polar vortex definitely present but too far north for snow in the Alps, but lots of sunshine and increasingly mild temperatures, no significant change in sight. On a positive note in terms of variety, a small disturbance will touch the northern Alps tomorrow (Thursday). It will be windier and a few snowflakes (or raindrops at low altitudes) are expected. This is expected to clear up by Friday. The weekend will be very sunny and warm everywhere, with only the relatively strong westerly wind possibly affecting the T-shirt weather at higher altitudes. With the disturbance tomorrow, hopefully at least the inversion in the valleys will be cleared out and the air will improve again in the meantime. In the Inn Valley, the inversion layer is recognisable as a brownish haze. Those who stay above it can count themselves lucky!

Frozen chicken

As a distraction, let's take a look at another region of the world this week. Sebastian forgot Alaska in his overview, although there is often interesting weather there. At the moment, it's freezing cold almost everywhere (with the exception of the south-east) and has been for quite a while. That would probably be an example of meteorologically interesting weather, but in practice it quickly gets on your nerves on the ground. The fantastic town of Chicken in Interior Alaska near the Canadian border, famous for its annual music festival "Chicken Stock", recorded below -50° Fahrenheit (-45°C) for the first time this season on 11 January. Since the beginning of January, it has only been warmer than -15°C on two days. Daily average temperatures range from about -20°C to -40°C. (Chicken Stock takes place in June facing less challenging temperatures).

The regional offices of the National Weather Service (NWS) are very active on social media and, in addition to the traditional -50°F and below "frozen chicken" notices, they also publish information on winter hazards. We end the WeatherBlog with this illustrative graphic from the NWS Juneau on the topic of "how thick does the ice have to be before I can go ice fishing, drive over it with my mid-sized truck, or take my space monster with me".