The Austrian weather service (Geosphere Austria) explains that the last time Bregenz, Innsbruck and Salzburg had as much snow at the same time of year was in 2014. It hasn't been as cold as last weekend in the north and east of Austria for over 10 years. A look at the snow maps of the SLF is also pleasing: the snow depths in the north of the Swiss Alps are significantly above average compared to the long-term average, especially at lower altitudes and on the edge of the Alps. New snow depth highs for the beginning of December were consistently achieved at the weather stations of the Bavarian Avalanche Warning Service. Most of the Bavarian LWD stations have been in operation since 1998 and you can click here through the seasonal graphics and compare current snow depth values with those measured so far. The example of the seasonal graph from the Kampenwand in the picture gallery below shows the rapid increase in snow depth in cold temperatures. (We suspect that the low wind in the graph is due to a frozen sensor rather than actual calm). In the meantime, the temperatures have risen again and the snow cover has already settled considerably. In any case, the WeatherBlog is happy about snow in the mountains back home and hopes that the approaching thaw doesn't tear too big a hole in the beautiful statistics!
COP28
We digress briefly from snow and weather and note that another Conference of the Parties (COP) is currently taking place, this time in Dubai under the leadership of Sultan Al Jaber, who also heads the state oil company of Abu Dhabi. The purpose of the COPs is, by and large, to reach an agreement within the global community on how to combat climate change. Sultan Al Jaber attracted attention in the run-up to the event with a video in which he first says: "there is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says the phase-out of fossil fuel is what's going to achieve 1.5." and then follows up with "please, help me, show me a roadmap for a phase-out of fossil fuels that will allow for sustainable socio-economic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves."
Without going any further into the rather idiosyncratic persona of the Sultan as head of the climate conference or the purpose of the conference in general, let's make a note of it: Yes, in order to somehow achieve 1.5°C, a "phase-out" or a radical reduction in the burning of fossil fuels is necessary. From the IPCC report to the International Energy Agency, there is plenty of corresponding "science". And no, this won't take the world back to the Stone Age and we don't all have to find a cave to live in.
Finally, back to more pleasant topics. Sebastian's second tutorial on the new PG weather deals with ensemble maps. General explanations of ensemble forecasts can be found in this WeatherBlog,
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