We've already had the meteorological beginning of spring, now it's time for the astronomical one. Spring itself is making a very tentative appearance, at least if you believe the whining of some people. Polar cold air, which has been directed towards Central Europe since last week, is responsible for the persistently wintry temperatures. This is again due to a so-called high over low situation. Like the omega situation mentioned here several times, the high over low situation is also a blocking weather situation that interrupts the westerly wind circulation that is usual in our latitudes. In the current case, there is a high to the northwest of Scandinavia and a low to the south of it over the Atlantic. The low is rotating cyclonically, i.e. anti-clockwise. The high rotates clockwise. There is therefore an east-to-west current between the high and low, which blocks anything coming from the west in terms of weather.
Maintaining tendency
Due to the direction of flow on the eastern flank of the high, cold air masses in the north are tapped and transported southwards. The southern low is thus constantly fed with new cold air in a kind of self-sustaining process and continues to form as long as the deliveries continue. So while there is the high and the cold air, there is also the low. Due to the lack of a westerly flow, the cold air brought by low pressure Xaver last week will largely remain with us. Like Xaver, disturbances will pass to the south of the Alps, causing accumulated precipitation there, and may pass by again from the east as they move away. Instead of saying that the weather situation remains more or less the same, we speak of persistence or tendency to persist.
Wintery outlook
Long-term changes will not appear in the forecast until the Easter holidays. Until then, it will remain wintry, with brief intermittent highs, such as on Friday and Saturday. After that, the next disturbance will come from the west. March is well on its way to becoming the second month in a row to be cooler than the long-term average. Spring lovers can moan as much as they like.
