The widespread precipitation of the last few days makes up for the last few weeks and allows for late winter powdering in the north too. After the snowy interlude, the sunny weather continues.
The snowfalls explained by Colleague Orakel provided a returning winter feeling after a previously extremely summery March, more or less everywhere, with the north leading the way for a change. In terms of skiing, you had clear advantages if you knew where there was already - or still - snow on Saturday, otherwise you could enjoy a good half a meter of fresh snow on spring meadows.
A lot of fresh snow Monday morning at various Tyrolean stations, north jam shows effect:
Hahnenkamm/Reutte: 70 cm
Seegrube: 50 cm
Brenner 41 cm
Reutte 40 cm
Tannheim 31 cm
Hahnenkamm/Ehrenbachhöhe 33 cm
Bichlbach 32 cm
Seefeld 30 cm
Neustift 22 cm
St. Anton 17 cm
Virgen 17 cm
Obergurgl 17 cm
Kitzbühel 16 cm
Mayrhofen 14 cm
Climate overview
Despite the remarkably intense snowfall, the general snow situation remains divided into two parts, with a well above-average base in the south and minimal residual base in the northern Alps. In Obergurgl (western Austrian main ridge), precipitation in 2014 was slightly above average after a dry January, with temperatures tending to be high. In Innsbruck (western Austria, northern Alps), the amount of precipitation up to the end of February was about average, but it was always unusually warm, so that hardly any of it fell as snow. Before the snowfall at the weekend, it had last snowed in Innsbruck on January 26. At the Loibl Tunnel station (Austrian Southern Alps), the precipitation totals for 2014 are still well above normal despite the very dry March. Temperatures were also above average here. In St. Pölten, on the other hand, it was both too warm and too dry. In the north of eastern Austria, it has hardly rained for around six weeks, let alone snowed. The recent precipitation here has been less than forecast and has done little to alleviate the drought.
March was unusually dry in the entire Alpine region, here is the curve for Innsbruck.
Forest fires
The drought in March may have been a pleasant change for the south, but in the north, which was already dry to very dry, the front gardens have been watered for some time. In addition to numerous smaller forest fires, a major fire near Absam in Tyrol caused a stir at the end of last week. A hiker had thrown away a cigarette in an area where hiking is usually quite a snowy affair at this time of year. Due to the strong winds and the steep, inaccessible terrain, the extinguishing work proved difficult and the all-clear could only be given after the snowfall on Sunday. Around 50 hectares of forest are affected, 10 of which have been completely destroyed. The forest was an important avalanche barrier for the infrastructure below, meaning that extensive protective measures are now necessary.
Outlook
The next few days, including the weekend, are likely to be increasingly sunny and gradually warmer in the Alpine region. A "high over low" situation with a strong Scandinavian high above or to the north of low pressure in the Mediterranean region will ensure calm, low-gradient weather with a slightly easterly flow. Towards the turn of the month, an advance of polar air masses on the eastern flank of the high is on the horizon, although this is likely to be more noticeable east of the Alps. As the Canadian cold air center is still driving the development of low pressure in the Atlantic and is therefore pushing European weather eastwards, spring-like temperatures and April weather for the first few days of April are currently more likely than renewed deep winter episodes. However, as usual, nothing can be ruled out and at least the ski touring regions in northern Norway, which have been quite dry so far, should benefit from this development.
