High pressure is still dominant above the Alps and directing storms away from the Alps. All storms? No, a rather small but brave storm has popped up on the charts and is going to track into the Mediterranean. The jet stream is turning west to southwest as a result and change is coming. We are expecting snow in Southern Piedmont as of Friday and the relatively stagnant pattern of the last few days will come to an end. There is still a lot of uncertainty in the models, but be prepared for an intensive storm cycle as of the upcoming weekend. Milder and wetter weather is expected with strong winds, fluctuating temperatures and lots of snow for the mid and higher alpine. In this article:
- High pressure is still dominant
- The tale about the small but brave storm
- Powder Watch status for Southern Piemonte
- Jetstream turning west to southwest
High pressure is still dominant
High pressure is still dominant above the Alps. The sky is blue during the days and the nights are cold and full of stars. This could create conditions for the formation of sketchy surface hoar during the night and plenty of visibility to venture into the backcountry during daytime. High pressure remains in the lead the next few days, but the empire may fall soon.
The tale about the small but brave storm
A small but brave storm has suddenly popped up on the charts. It is likely to track into the Mediterranean on Thursday. It is a small storm but has been causing a lot of fuss for the weather algorithms and chaos in the data output.
It all is going to start with a change in the upper air flow. A huge storm on the Atlantic will track east and push a cold sector to the southwest of Europe. Once this cold air arrives in the Mediterranean it evolves [is going to evolve (evidence) of it will evolve (less evidence) into a storm on its own.
This little engine is going to suck colder air from the east into the Po valley and, in the meantime, push moisture from the south towards Northwest Italy. Intense snowfall will be the result once these air masses mix and encounter the eastern flanks of the Piedmont. We expect 30-60 cm of freshies for the Southern Piedmont and 10-40 cm for the rest of the Piedmont from Friday till Saturday. Check in tomorrow morning for more details.
Powder watch status for the Southern Piemonte
Up to 20 cm of fresh snow fell in Limone Piemonte last Sunday and it looks like there is even more to expect for the upcoming weekend. {the weekend} Temperatures at 1500 meters will be warming slightly (of slight increase in temperatures) {during the weekend}, but remain low enough to guarantee powder. With the new snow and continuing cold temperatures I am issuing a Powder Watch status for Southern Piedmont the upcoming weekend. I expect to make the call for a Powder Alert around Thursday morning.
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The jetstream is coming back at the start of February
The relatively stagnant pattern of the last few days will come to an end with this new storm cycle on the weather charts. It looks like weather systems may come in from the west for the first time this season. This may cause a sensational storm cycle with several storms moving in. Make sure you have your Gore Tex shell ready.
Stay stoked. Morris