WeatherBlog 17 2018/19 | Persistently changeable

Current situation and outlook

A low-pressure complex over the Atlantic is approaching the Alpine region. On the front side of the trough, the current will turn SW. Today, Wednesday, will be foehny but still quite clear in the eastern northern Alps with increasing winds, while clouds will accumulate on the southern slopes of the Alps. In the western Alps, widespread precipitation will start as early as midday today, with some fresh snow probably only accumulating in the western Italian Alps for the time being. On Thursday, the precipitation will move eastwards and it will remain quite stormy throughout. On Friday and over the weekend, it will remain turbulent and sometimes very windy with a westerly flow. Smaller disturbances from the west to northwest will pass in rapid succession and it is likely to remain cloudy on the main ridge and to the north of it. At least it will snow again, but it is doubtful whether it will be enough for an alarm. The further south of the main ridge, the drier and sunnier!

Finally, and for comparison, the WeatherBlog takes a brief look at February in Alaska: here too, with the exception of the south-eastern regions, it was clearly too warm, with deviations of more than 10°C in the monthly averages at some stations. Disturbances embedded in a strong southerly flow have severely affected the sea ice in the Bering Sea. This drastically increases the risk of flooding for some villages on the west coast, where the permafrost is literally melting away under the houses. In addition, the route for the famous Iditarod sled dog race will probably have to be changed for the second year in a row as the Norton Sound is not frozen solid. As far as the significance for regional winter sports is concerned, it's a bit like having to move the Hahnenkamm race to an indoor ski slope in central Germany because it's too warm in Kitzbühel - twice in a row.