Another month has passed. It must be climate change! After a wet but mild January, February promises cooler temperatures and accumulated precipitation right from the start.
Current situation
The expected westerly weather has arrived and is ruining a lot of snow with very mild temperatures and storms. Last night, it rained at over 2000 m in places and the fresh snow at higher altitudes quickly turned to concrete thanks to the wind, according to WeatherBlog informants. We inhabitants of the Alps are all caught up in a strong westerly current. The high wind speeds are caused by large differences in pressure. The Alps lie between a low over Scandinavia and a high over the Iberian Peninsula. The jet howls in the middle.
Outlook
The spook is not permanent: the situation will change fundamentally by the weekend. The current is undulating and a wedge is forming over the Atlantic, while a trough is stretching its fingers towards the Alps in northern Europe. Yesterday it looked like very wintry conditions in the north for Saturday and Sunday, but today the models have backed off a little. The exact timing is particularly problematic. Depending on when the fronts pass through, the precipitation could be over before the cold air arrives or only start again after the cold air has cleared. That's complaining on a rather high level, especially when you consider the current conditions. It should definitely snow at the weekend, even if not necessarily all the way down to the valleys. Maybe even our colleague Orakel will finally get back to us with a more precise where-when-how-much.
We're stealing his wording at this point and confirming it: February will continue to be funky in the medium to long term. An interplay of troughs and wedges will ensure exciting, rather cool weather with plenty of potential for precipitation in the only right form. The northern slopes of the Alps will remain favored. From today's perspective, the second half of the coming week looks particularly interesting. Once again, we can remain curious (and envy the students their semester break.)
