WeatherBlog 22 2025/26 | White gold rush on the northern slope of the Alps

Weather situation

The Alps are currently in a perfectly northerly flow. The whole of Germany and half of Central Europe has been flooded with another polar air mass and we can only hope that the fruit trees that blossomed in the warm first half of March will not lose their flowers now. This is certainly a dicey but not unusual situation for fruit growers and hobby gardeners. Two PowderAlerts have passed in quick succession, and anyone who saw the Xtreme Verbier was able to see for themselves the quality of the first dump, which the athletes knew how to make exemplary use of. However, the fact that it was not possible to start from the main summit due to a lack of snow is emblematic of the below-average winter in terms of snowfall.

What does nordstau have to do with the jet stream?

If you follow the WeatherBlogs, the term "jet stream" is not new to you. For our newcomers: jet streams are zonal winds at an altitude of around 10 km that result from meridional temperature gradients - in simple terms: it is warm at the equator, cold at the poles and thermal winds, the so-called jet stream, blow in between. You can find out more about this in Lea's weather facts.

In our latitudes, the polar jet stream is particularly important. It runs between the subtropical and polar air masses. The jet stream meanders meridionally, i.e. it forms so-called Rossby waves, which determine the weather in the mid-latitudes. In the height of winter, the jet stream is usually very pronounced. Due to the polar night, the temperature difference between the pole and the subtropics is large and the jet stream is correspondingly stable - unless there is a polar vortex breakdown. This leads to the classic westerly weather patterns. This changes in spring: the temperature gradient decreases, the jet stream becomes weaker, it meanders more and the Rossby waves can move further south.

This is precisely the key to the Nordstau of the last few days: the weakening of the jet stream allows a meridional flow, and the combination of cold air and sufficient moisture leads to the classic Nordstau - and thus to our beloved white gold.