WeatherBlog 2 2017/18 | Weather changeover, Numa, Twitter trouble

Current situation and outlook

In the past few days, the Alpine region has been under the influence of a cyclonic north-westerly flow. Various disturbances were embedded in the north-westerly current, which have brought some precipitation since Sunday, sometimes down to low altitudes but not in particularly large quantities. The last wet and fluffy offering from this series was the warm front that reached us yesterday night and then passed over us. The front brought a significant rise in temperatures, which heralded the current, milder phase.

While it was already relatively sunny in the western Alps on Tuesday, the high pressure influence will only really reach the east today, Wednesday. Reinhardt, a powerful low pressure system west of the British Isles, is responsible for the turnaround. Reinhardt is pumping warm air from subtropical regions in our direction. The flow turns to the southwest and the zero degree limit temporarily rises to over 3000m. From Friday, it will probably get cooler again, with the high pressure influence remaining in the eastern Alps, while in the west it is likely to gradually cloud over with an approaching cold front. The front should then reach the Eastern Alps during the course of Saturday. What exactly will become of the front and what will follow is still unclear. However, panic about the further development of winter in view of a few warm days is not yet necessary from the WeatherBlog's point of view.

Wetteronline is therefore in the right from the point of view of the judiciary, but not from the point of view of many internet commentators. The general opinion seems to be that Section 6 (2) sentence 1 DWDG is a stupid law, the DWD app was better than the Wetteronline competitor product, Wetteronline is totally mean and the data of a publicly funded service should be freely available anyway. In the course of the debate, the Wetteronline app has also been criticized for extensive data collection and transmission.

On another level, Jörg Kachelmann and his portal Kachelmann Wetter have been denouncing Wetteronline for a while for "falsifying data", especially in the precipitation radar products they offer, which apparently contain little actual radar data, but rather a somehow prepared data mix.

Kachelmann naturally joins #teamDWD in the legal dispute between Wetteronline and DWD. Wetteronline has so far kept a relatively low profile on social media, but side blows in the form of classic Twitter shade towards Kachelmann are clearly recognizable. As usual, Kachelmann doesn't mince his words and rumbles through cyberspace. For interested Twitter users: Kachelmann's tirades on the subject can be found under the hashtag #FakeWetteronline. A direct exchange of blows between Kachelmann and Wetteronline employees can be found in numerous threads in the Forum of the Wetterzentrale.

With this important coverage inspired by Buzzfeed and the Kardashian family, the PG WB says goodbye until next week and wishes you lots of fun on the mountain. And always remember: bad weather only exists on the internet.