Weather

This winter is a bit of a rollercoaster: nothing happens for a long time and then things get crazy. A bit like the Italian westerns that shaped our youth.

The Doors sang about it, the Avengers made a movie about it - and only the sausage has two. The end. However, Ullr and the PowderAlert are not about something existential like the end of our own existence, the end of the world or the last relationship, but only about the end of our west or northwest situation, which is now rolling inexorably on. People in Valais and France are probably quite happy about this and even the oracle whistled through his teeth this morning when he saw that the avalanche danger had been upgraded to level 5. The little cousin of February 1999 is showing his teeth. (And who else but the Oracle finds a downgrade at level 5 a bit odd? "That's like getting an F+ at school," was the best comment in the chat today). Before the westerly thaw is over this weekend after almost two weeks, some more alarm-worthy snow is coming.

For freeriders, these are not necessarily memories of the 1.57 m tall "Sexy" [censored swear word that deals with mothers and sexual activity], or of the "Artist Formerly Known as Prince" and his song, but of the exceptional February 1999 (exciting memory from the SLF). And this time Ullr invites us to another powder party.

The tough omega situation is wobbling and the warm, sunny weather is coming to an end for the time being towards the weekend. With cold air from the north and the chance of low pressure developing in the Mediterranean, it could even get quite wintry again, but the details are still unclear. In any case, it will become increasingly unstable from today and the dry, reliable firn phase will be over for the time being.

The sun means well with us - perhaps a little too well. A small high-altitude low caused a few blemishes on Tuesday and Wednesday, then high pressure took over and the meteorological start of spring began with an omega situation. For us, this means big temperature differences between day and night, firn windows in the morning - and a watchful eye on the avalanche situation in the afternoon.

We repeat the latest message from the oracle - the wet westerly weather is over for the time being. We are heading towards spring, both in a statistical and meteorological sense and in terms of the character of the weather. The next few days will be very warm and very sunny.

"Under the magnifying glass" is a series of articles by Lydia and Linus. We are both at the SLF in Davos this winter, where we are studying snow from a scientific perspective. As we regularly take a close look at the snow in our surroundings - both during our field work and at weekends - we'll be taking you with us from time to time this winter. We will explain our snow profiles to you, what the individual observations mean and what snow science topics arise from the current profiles. Today: How the orientation of a slope - i.e. its exposure - influences the development of the snowpack and why north-facing slopes often offer particularly good snow, but also the most dangerous conditions.

"Under the magnifying glass" is a series of articles by Lydia and Linus. We are both at the SLF in Davos this winter, where we are studying snow from a scientific perspective. As we regularly take a close look at the snow in the area anyway - both during our field work and at our weekends - we'll be taking you with us from time to time this winter. We explain our snow profiles, what the individual observations actually mean and pick up on various snow science topics that arise from the current profiles. Today: How the weather conditions at the start of the season can help shape the rest of the winter season - and how the weather in recent weeks has changed the snowpack.

Unfortunately, too much time has passed for many people since the last major snowfall in mid-January. Since then, a very stable area of high pressure has dominated large parts of Central Europe and ensured long-lasting warm temperatures. This triggered euphoria among some climbing enthusiasts, powder fans got long faces and yet not all freeriders lost their motivation, because the best snow after powder is known to be firn. But just as with fresh snowfall, there are a few things to bear in mind when there is no snowfall.