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WeatherBlog 6 2019/20 | Changeable Christmas

Storm, snow, sun

by Lea Hartl 12/25/2019
A strong westerly to north-westerly flow will determine the Christmas weather in the Alpine region. This current brought a warm front yesterday (Tuesday), followed by a cold front today. While the lowlands and lower valleys will be quite wet, considerable amounts of fresh snow will fall at higher altitudes.

The development of low pressure in the western Atlantic continues to be fueled by cold air flowing in from the north. The result is a more or less stationary, pronounced low south of Greenland. On the one hand, this produces an "active Atlantic" in weather terms and constantly new disturbances that reach us with the westerly drift - as has happened in recent days (and triggered the current PowderAlert).

On the other hand, warm air is transported northwards at the front of this low, which is conducive to a strengthening of the somewhat shifted Azores High. The series of cold and warm fronts that have been and will be unleashed on the northern and western Alps - with corresponding temperature jumps and sometimes very critical avalanche situations - testify to the current dominance of the westerly weather.

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Outlook

The snowfall should more or less stop everywhere tonight and tomorrow, the 26th of December, will be quite sunny. The first beautiful day after lots and lots of fresh snow - and a public holiday to boot - should be enjoyed with great caution as far as skiing is concerned. However, at least at slightly higher altitudes, the winter magic for a Christmas stroll is guaranteed in large parts of the Alps. The next disturbance will then approach from the west in the night to Friday and Friday will again be cloudy with renewed snow showers, some of them heavy.

A period of high pressure is then on the cards for the weekend and the last few days of 2019. The Azores High, which has shifted to the east, will gain the upper hand in the aforementioned conflict with the westerly drift and bring plenty of sunshine and significantly higher temperatures again. From today's perspective, it will not be enough for an overly persistent block and the high will gradually be eaten away by the westerly drift until it tips over to the east. This would then clear the way for the familiar westerly weather. Exactly when this will happen remains to be seen - at the moment it looks like the middle of next week.

Miscellaneous

In an interesting blog post, MeteoSwiss explains what it takes for Lake Zurich to freeze over. The last time there was a Seegfrörni (very nice word!!) was in January and February 1963, when an Omega block brought in polar cold air over a longer period of time. There are 26 known cases in the last 750 years in which the lake froze over completely. Maybe it will happen again sometime!

The WeatherBlog wishes you a pleasant, peaceful Christmas, a happy winter solstice and beautiful days in the snow. May all your winter wishes come true!

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This article has been automatically translated by DeepL with subsequent editing. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors or if the translation has lost its meaning, please write an e-mail to the editors.

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