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WeatherBlog 12 2016/17 | High pressure until further notice

...and the weather at the North Pole

by Lea Hartl 01/17/2017
The recent snowfall in the northern Alps will now be followed by a phase of high pressure with calm, mostly sunny weather. Fresh snow is only expected in the mountains of southern Europe for the time being. We are also taking a look at the North Pole this week, inspired by a user question.

Current situation and outlook

The Alps are currently caught between a low in the Mediterranean and a high with a core over the British Isles. The low pressure system can still suck in some cold air in the east and this will reach us in an easterly current, which will gradually die down in the coming days or turn to the SE towards the weekend. This means that it will gradually become milder, at least at higher altitudes, while it will remain very frosty in the valleys under the inversion. There is no precipitation in sight for the time being, at least in the Alps.

There are serious PowderAlerts in the southern mountains of Europe: Abruzzo in particular has been literally buried by fresh snow since Monday, but there has also been a lot of fresh snow in the Pyrenees in the last few days (see e.g. here). In the Pyrenees, the snowfall is now slowly coming to an end, but it is still continuing in central Italy, southern Spain and the mountains of the Balkan countries. If you want to have fun in a snowstorm over the next few days, you have a much better chance on some Mediterranean beaches than in the Alps.

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Reader question: Weather forecast at the North Pole

PG reader Kristian has taken a look at the weather forecast at the North Pole for the next few days and is wondering about the mild temperatures. Shouldn't it be colder there than at home?

Note in passing: we don't really like automatic forecasts like this. For all applications that go beyond virtual expeditions, forecasts prepared by human meteorologists should be used. You can recognize them by the fact that they consist of text, not just clouds and sun symbols. This is particularly recommended for non-virtual expeditions to the North Pole or similar regions.

But on the subject: Yes, it should be colder there. A powerful low pressure system over Greenland has been pumping warm Atlantic air from the mid-latitudes far to the north in recent days. This is also one of the reasons why the Azores High is currently in such good shape.

We have already pointed out the unusual situation in the Arctic several times this season in the WeatherBlog. Since this has been observed, the sea ice extent in the fall has never been as low as in 2016, not even in 2012 when the lowest level of the summer minimum was reached. There is still much less sea ice in the Arctic than usual at this time of year. Sea surface temperatures - where the sea is not frozen over - are also well above the long-term average (see graphs at the bottom of the gallery)

When the already unusually mild winter in the North Pole region is compounded by the influx of warm air due to the weather conditions of the last few days, you can actually say while freezing in a chairlift: I feel like I'm at the North Pole. At least if you close your eyes. At least it's still dark at the North Pole in winter.

Photo gallery

This article has been automatically translated by DeepL with subsequent editing. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors or if the translation has lost its meaning, please write an e-mail to the editors.

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