White mountains guard blooming flowers in green valleys, those who forget their sun cream will regret it and early birds catch the firn.
Current situation
Last weekend, a disturbance brought quite a bit of fresh snow to the north and west, which the subsequent north föhn then largely made unusable again. Since the beginning of the week, the Alpine region has been in the area of the powerful high Gulliver, which is causing spring fever throughout Europe. One day is the same as the next, with variations only in the decreasing quality of the powder on the shaded side, the increasing quality of the firn and the speed with which morning slope clouds dissipate.
In places where there has never been much snow this season, there is still little to none. The areas south of the main ridge are languishing and the dry winter there is slowly turning into a dry spring. The driest place in Austria at the moment is St Andrä in the Carinthian Lavantal. In over 120 days, it has rained about as much there as in a single, decent summer thunderstorm. In the Karawanken and Carnic Alps, there is a lack of around four meters of snow. (Source: ZAMG)
The outlook
The high pressure influence will remain in the west until Friday and in the east until the weekend. The high pressure will increasingly shift to the south, bringing the Alps into a southerly flow, which is likely to cause south föhn in the susceptible areas on Friday and Saturday. A low-pressure system is approaching from the northwest, which will reach the western Alps on Saturday and the eastern Alps towards Sunday evening. At the moment, the whole thing looks more like a cosmetic refresher than a significant amount of fresh snow, but maybe Mrs. Holle will shake the crystal ball again. As usual this winter, the west-facing accumulations would be favored. Unfortunately, one must increasingly expect to be rained on at lower altitudes and should therefore orientate oneself more towards the main ridge.
By Wednesday next week, all spookiness should be over and Europe can sunbathe again under a thick high. From today's perspective, it looks like classic touring weather everywhere in the second half of the week: With luck, there will be a bit of powder on the north side of the high mountains, but if you don't want to rely on that and fear slush, you'll have to plan firn tours. White mountains, blossoming flowers in green valleys, don't forget your sun cream - oh wait, we've already been there.
