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WeatherBlog 16 2021/22 | High pressure in a continuous loop

No end in sight

by Lea Hartl • 03/09/2022
Brown haze over the Inn Valley: fine dust and other dirt collects in the inversion.

Brown haze over the Inn Valley: fine dust and other dirt collects in the inversion

LH

Brown haze over the Inn Valley: fine dust and other dirt collects in the inversion

LH
An end to the high pressure phase is not in sight. The Omega High will merely shift a little, so that the flow will turn to a more southerly direction over the next few days. This will make it warmer and slightly foehn-like, at least in the west.

Current situation and outlook

Everything has already been said. The high that we discussed last week is still there. At the moment, the eastern Alps in particular are still in a north-easterly flow and therefore in a relatively cold, very dry air mass. The omega layer remains largely stable and is merely wobbling around a little. As a result, the Alps will slide a little further from the eastern side of the wedge to the western side and possibly back again. This means that the NE flow will be replaced by a southerly flow. It will generally remain cooler in the east, while the Föhn will probably be more noticeable in the west at the weekend. There could even be some (light) precipitation south of the main Alpine ridge. Otherwise it will remain sunny. From today's perspective, things will continue as usual next week, with even higher temperatures - the clouds in the south should also have disappeared by then.

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Brown haze over the Inn Valley: fine dust and other dirt collects in the inversion.

Brown haze over the Inn Valley: fine dust and other dirt collects in the inversion

LH

Brown haze over the Inn Valley: fine dust and other dirt collects in the inversion

LH

Air pollution in the inversion

As is usual in such weather conditions, a tough inversion has formed, trapping all particulate matter under a lid, so to speak. If you are also sitting under this lid, you can see the poor air quality from the visibility, which is now quite low for the sunny weather. From above, you can see the brown haze in the valley even more clearly. Over the next few days, the foehn could provide some relief, at least in places, provided it is strong enough and makes it through the inversion cover into the valley. Precipitation would also "wash" the dirt out of the air - this is an option in the south at most. The further spring progresses, the stronger the sun is known to become. At some point, it will manage to warm the ground so much during the day that mixing occurs, i.e. warm air rises from the ground. In this way, the air can also be "exchanged" and particulate pollution reduced. Of course, the most elegant way to change air masses is with a large-scale change in the weather - but maybe the weather will change at some point before it really becomes summer...

500hPa geopotential and ground pressure, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday. The Omega situation will stay with us. A little more changeable in the south at the weekend, then probably sunny everywhere again.

500hPa geopotential and ground pressure, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday. The Omega situation will remain. A little more changeable in the south at the weekend, then probably sunny everywhere again.

meteociel.fr

500hPa geopotential and ground pressure, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday. The Omega situation will remain. A little more changeable in the south at the weekend, then probably sunny everywhere again.

meteociel.fr

Dry air: dry snow

Although it feels like it hasn't snowed for ages, the snow is often still reasonably usable and even powdery, at least on windless northern slopes. Due to the very dry air and correspondingly low dew points, it cools down considerably at night and the build-up transformation progresses on the snow surface (and in the entire, often quite extensive, snow cover). A positive side effect is that if the surface frost turns directly into deep frost because the avalanche-relevant "board" has also been eaten away by the build-up transformation, the old snow problem is also solved at some point, or at least becomes less critical. The warmer temperatures will not be conducive to snow quality in the shade, but there may soon be better firn on sunny slopes with increased melt-freeze cycles.

Still partly powdery in the shade, not yet really firn in the sun, with variations of broken harsch in between.

Sometimes still powdery in the shade, not yet really firn in the sun, with variations of broken snow in between.

LH

Sometimes still powdery in the shade, not yet really firn in the sun, with variations of broken snow in between.

LH

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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