WeatherBlog 20 2021/22 | April weather

Current situation and outlook

The decisive factor for our weather continues to be a massive low-pressure complex over Scandinavia, which repeatedly steers fronts into the Alpine region. Today, Wednesday (6.4.2022), will be relatively calm with the influence of intermediate highs. Clouds will increase in the afternoon and there will be snow or rain showers here and there. In the night to Thursday, a strong disturbance will first reach the western Alps and then the rest. A stormy westerly situation will establish itself: precipitation will mainly occur in the western and north-western areas, unfortunately with a fairly high snow line. There will be much less in the east. On the southern slopes of the Alps, the weather will be clearer but not unclouded and here, too, the strong winds are likely to interfere with mountain activities. In the west and north, the combination of storms, clouds and precipitation will look very uncomfortable on Thursday. Little will change on Friday - the focus of the precipitation will shift slightly to the east, but it will remain very stormy and relatively mild with rain up to ~2000m.

The direction of flow in the Alps will change at the weekend due to a widening of the currently rather zonal, large-scale current over the Atlantic. West becomes northwest. This will cause temperatures to drop significantly and a cold front, which is expected to arrive on Saturday night, will cause the snow line to drop again. From today's perspective, Saturday will be cool, rather cloudy (perhaps with a few sunny spells here and there) and prone to showers. The drop in temperature compared to the previous day is likely to be quite significant and should be factored into your clothing and other planning.

A PowderAlert is in effect for the Western Alps. The omniscient oracle will soon tell us whether the colder snowfall on Saturday will also bring alarm-worthy amounts for the north/east. We're waiting with bated breath!

On Sunday, it looks like the weather will calm down and conditions will be quite sunny. Sunday will still be relatively cool, but it should quickly become much warmer on Monday. Calm, warm high-pressure weather is on the cards for the coming week.

To reach the 1.5°C target, global emissions must peak by 2025 at the latest and then fall rapidly, by 43% by 2030. Emissions are currently rising and are higher than ever, they are just rising a little slower than a few years ago. How the reductions are to be achieved is clear in principle: a comprehensive, very rapid move away from fossil fuels, a switch to renewable energies in all sectors with a simultaneous reduction in energy consumption. In most cases, it is also clear how this can be achieved and the corresponding methods are often very mature and have long been applicable on a large scale (renewable energies, electrification, etc.). In some areas, alternative methods with little or no climate-damaging emissions are still at a lower stage of development, but are also moving towards commercialization (e.g. the production of steel).

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says of the report: "It is a document of shame, a catalog of empty promises that clearly set the course towards an uninhabitable earth." It is about much more than the winters of the future.