WeatherBlog 3 2023/24 | Watch out, it's snowing again!

The weather situation and the continuing precipitation

The snowfall of the current PowderAlert on the north side of the Alps was heavy at high altitudes and unfortunately very wet at lower altitudes. But after the warm front, the cold front is now crossing the Alps, and the precipitation that comes with it should fall more frequently as snow at lower altitudes towards Friday: definitely down to below 1500m. I don't want to anticipate the oracle too much and hope for his message, but a solid amount of fresh snow could arrive on the main Alpine ridge and from Saturday there could be some really nice bluebird days with powder.

PG-ICON weather tutorial #3: Influence masks

For the new snow forecast, we offer you three influence masks that show where snowfall is affected by warmth, lack of base or strong wind. The mask overlays each grid cell in which the respective criterion is fulfilled with a green circle. The criteria are selected as follows: for "lack of base" the snow depth (for initialization) must be less than 10cm, for "warmth" the near-surface air temperature must be greater than 0°C for three hours on the respective day, and for "strong wind" wind gusts > must be 36 km/h. The masks are also added up for the accumulated amount of fresh snow. Finally, "all influences" can be combined.

The display may still be in need of improvement, but the combined information is certainly helpful. As a future mask, we also offer the prospect of "sleet", which we would define if 10mm of rain falls in the same period during snowfall.