In times of crisis, people are happy to see not only the colours of the traffic lights in the news (german politics joke), but also the best colour of all, white. Educated physicists with an affinity for art may now lament that it is not a colour, but the oracle doesn't care, because white is the colour of love. The love of any freerider and finally we get to see it again on our beloved mountains.

The dry autumn with late summer flair in the golden larch forests and south-facing rock faces is coming to an end, and Ullr is sending us winter greetings for the second time. During the first greeting in mid-September, the first turns were already enjoyed, but the snow did not last. This second greeting hopefully heralds the start of winter, and we can start the PowderAlert series with snow height betting games as usual and bet on a strong winter.

With this last nordstau, Ullr is sending us what could be the last cold snowfall suitable for weekends and the oracle is using this opportunity to bid a highly official farewell to the summer break, as medium range forecast does not look like there will be any more wintry surprises until the end of April.

In many places, the Alps are a winter wonderland. Nevertheless, we have a mixed assessment of the start of the season. There has been some nice precipitation, but none of it has been heavy. The snow conditions across the Alps are neither bad nor good for mid-December. The prospects for new snow are similar. I therefore describe the situation with the beautiful Spanish proverb: ni fu ni fa.

As we all know, the WetterBlog likes when things are happening in the weather kitchen and suffers from acute boredom bordering on anxiety if the weather stays the same for too long. We are therefore pleasedto announce: Something is happening! The next few days offer (almost) everything that Alpine weather can do.

After the respectable onset of winter last week, things are now continuing rather cautiously. A cold front reaches the northern Alps on Thursday and brings a few centimetres of fresh snow. High pressure returns at the weekend. This weather blog is a joint effort by Sebastian and Lea!

"Nothing can happen in the forest." - This is probably one of the most widespread misconceptions among skiers. It is true that statistically there are fewer avalanche accidents in the forest. However, those who are lulled into a false sense of security are unconsciously taking a high risk and acting carelessly. In today's SnowFlurries we therefore take a look at how the forest influences snowpack stability and what skiers need to bear in mind.

Fortunately, this season got off to a very snowy start and provided a good foundation. It stayed that way until shortly before Christmas. The so-called Christmas thaw materialised just in time for Christmas.

In this rummage, we take a closer look at the so-called Arlberg effect and its impact on avalanche danger. As this effect does not only occur on the Arlberg, we refer to it more generally as the "effect of off-piste descents".