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WeatherBlog 15 2023/24 | February too warm for March

Warmest February in recorded history

by Lea Hartl 03/06/2024
The mean temperature for February this year corresponds to a warmer than average March. In all Alpine countries, February was much warmer than usual and records were broken in many cases. The statistical winter (December, January, February) was also one of the warmest on record. Of course, the skiing winter is not over yet, and there will be more to come in the south at the weekend.

February statistics

According to Geosphere Austria (formerly known as ZAMG), there has never been a month in Austria that deviated further from the climatological mean than February 2024 since measurements began. In the series of the warmest March (!) months, this year's February would be in the top 20. The situation is similar in Switzerland. Here, too, there were national and regional records. In each case with foehn influence, there were daily deviations of over 10°C compared to the climate norm, first on the southern side of the Alps (north foehn) and then in the north (south foehn). 

Precipitation in February varied greatly from region to region. The statistics confirm the last PowderAlerts: in the south, there was significantly above-average snow and rainfall in some places, while in the north it was mostly a little too dry. From a skiing perspective, the aggregate state of the precipitation is usually more relevant than the absolute amounts. As already discussed several times, this left a lot to be desired due to the very high temperatures and the amounts of snow at low and medium altitudes are correspondingly meagre while the mountain winter continues. The winter in terms of weather and climate statistics lasts from December to February and was also the warmest in Switzerland since measurements began. In Austria, people are still not quite sure whether 2006/07 was perhaps a tad warmer

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Current situation and outlook

Last week, an extensive high over Eastern Europe and Russia kept us busy. Storms had to move out of the way and produced the strong southerly flow of the last two weeks or so. The high has since shifted and is now a little further west with its centre over Scandinavia. As a result, Atlantic lows are also being deflected a little further west. Yesterday's blast of cooler air masses brought some fresh snow in the north, which will subside over the course of today. High pressure will then prevail and Thursday will be very sunny everywhere with comparatively cool temperatures.

The calm won’t last. The large-scale high will shift again and the next Atlantic trough is approaching. This will likey become weather-relevant in the Alpine region from Friday. The current will turn to the south-west and the familiar pattern of foehn in the north and accumulating precipitation in the south will set in and is likely to continue over the weekend. This will probably result in another PowderAlert for the south. The spatial and temporal distribution of the precipitation (how much, where exactly in the south and when between Friday and Sunday) is still murky. Our colleague Orakel will definitely be in touch if necessary!

Sahara dust

Finally, we should mention the Saharan dust that recently hit us, mainly because of the beautiful satellite image. The plume of dust being blown across the Mediterranean from the North African coast in the picture reached Europe in the first days of March and created the typical brownish haze in the air. A corresponding layer of dust can now be found in the snow pack.

Photo gallery

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