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WeatherBlog 17 2018/19 | Persistently changeable

Stormy westerly conditions at the weekend

by Lea Hartl 03/06/2019
The interplay of windy, warmer, colder, sunny and wet continues. Embedded in a strong westerly current, new disturbances are constantly reaching the Alps. Small changes in the direction of flow on both sides of the Alps sometimes lead to foehn, then again to accumulating precipitation.

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!

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February in review

Austria set a new record for the warmest February day in recorded history: 24.2°C was measured at two stations in Burgenland and Styria on February 28, 2019. The station at the University of Innsbruck set a new record for Tyrol with 21.5°C. Unsurprisingly, the whole of February in the Alpine region was very sunny and mostly too mild compared to the climatological average. In Austria, it was 3.8°C warmer than average in the mountains and also 2.4°C too warm in the valleys. It was also unusually dry almost everywhere. Above-average precipitation was only recorded in East Tyrol and Upper Carinthia, and according to ZAMG, all of it fell within a few days at the beginning of the month.

In Switzerland, February was similar: Sunny, warm, some new daily temperature records towards the end of the month - including in Zermatt on February 26. On the southern side of the Swiss Alps in particular, spring-like conditions have prevailed for several weeks, not only in terms of temperatures, but also in terms of phenology - a.k.a. "the hazel bushes bloom in January, that's not possible!" Nicely prepared details can be found at MeteoSchweiz.

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.

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