Magazine

The title and PowderAlert say it all: it's raining cats and dogs on the southern side of the Alps and a lot of snow is falling at high altitudes. We briefly discuss what a heavy precipitation event is and look at the current event in detail. Finally, we briefly recap the winter and bring the WeatherBlog season to a conditional close.

The cool, sunny spring weather will increasingly turn into summer temperatures with the onset of the Föhn wind. A late onset of winter is not in sight, but at least some precipitation is possible in the south after the long sunny spell.

Central european summertime has started and April has begun - and with it the familiar April weather, with spring and winter battling it out for the upper hand. After the surprisingly heavy snowfall on the northern slopes of the Alps, the weather calms down for the time being. However, a further outbreak of cold air and another northerly flow are to be expected.

The period of southern storms is over and this week we are dealing with slightly early April weather. A mix of sun and clouds and a few showers here and there characterize the picture. Winter might make a comeback over the weekend!

Both the participants of the PowderGuide final meeting in Engelberg and Mose in the border triangle fully enjoyed the last snowfalls. Elsewhere, unfortunately, there was also slow glop paired with dangerous avalanche conditions. An intermediate high is currently giving us spring fever again, but will be replaced by a southerly flow with lots of precipitation at the weekend. We hope this will bring another PowderAlert, although the state of the precipitation seems to be more liquid than fluffy.

Two PowderAlerts after a long drought! And at least in parts of the Alps, it's continuing to be reasonably wintry! The south in particular is benefiting from a relatively stationary area of low pressure that lies diagonally over Spain and France and is repeatedly producing südstau this week. In the north (east), the amounts remain lower and will not significantly improve the snow conditions, but will hopefully at least alleviate the acute risk of forest fires.

We're not complaining any more, because the recent snowfalls have provided surprisingly good conditions, especially on the southern slopes of the Alps. The Alps are currently enjoying perfect weather thanks to blocking high pressure over Central Europe. The conditions for ski tours are quite good where there is snow and especially where it has recently snowed and should be taken advantage of. The outlook is not clearly promising, but a comeback of winter is quite possible in connection with a sudden stratospheric warming. So there is hope, and as long as there is hope, let's hold on to it.

My colleague Sebastian dedicated last week's WetterBlog to the new PG weather, because of course it deserves such a dedication and because he didn't just want to "whine about the weather forecast". I, on the other hand, love to moan and have no inhibitions about doing so for both of us this week!

The Friday before last (07/02/2025) we released the new PowderGuide-weather, version 2.4.0, which has been providing you with the weather forecast since then. We no longer only show ICON but also the SNOWGRID and EXOLABS snowpack models. We look back with satisfaction on our old system, but we also had to develop further. The new system covers the whole of Europe and also international regions, includes new variables and extends the forecast to 7.5 days. It was a turbulent development process, and not all ideas were realised. But we are pleased with the result and we are sure that it will also keep you both informed and entertained. The weather forecast, which is usually the main focus of the WeatherBlog, can be found in abridged form in the picture gallery, and anyway and unfortunately there is not much going on in the Alps next week.

The warm, slightly foehny bluebird weather of the last few days has been replaced by overcast skies and even a few snowflakes here and there. Overall, however, the weather situation in the Alps still falls into the category of boring, dull weather.

January is over, but the winter is still not very wintery. A few short episodes of fresh snow made for spectacular images - especially at the Freeride World Tour in Val Thorens, which will be remembered for its impressive lines and deep powder. Nevertheless, the snow conditions are below average in many places. There is hope for a sustainable return of winter, but the weather situation remains complicated.