Forecast

We can finally enjoy winter scenes from the Alps again. Unfortunately, this cosmetic layer will disappear below 2000 meters in the coming days due to milder air, while it will remain relatively cold in Austria for a bit longer.

As Henri already indicated in the previous forecast, the dominance of high-pressure areas is coming to an end, making way for some Alpine weather action. Between a powerful high-pressure area near Ireland and another one over Russia, a weak disturbance will move from the North Sea over the BeNeLux and France to Spain in the coming days.

The end of persitent and very mild high-pressure weather is in sight! The weather models are working on something nice for next week, but how exactly it will turn out is hard to say at this point.

Except for the extreme rainfall in France and Spain, there has been little to report for a week, especially in the Alps. A powerful high-pressure area over Central Europe brings mild and dry weather.

The days are quickly getting shorter and almost all glacier ski areas are open. The snow situation is better than last autumn, but these areas are still relying on the snow that fell in September and early October.

Between reviving depressions over the Atlantic and high pressure over the eastern Mediterranean, a humid and very mild southwesterly flow has developed. This has caused a lot of precipitation in recent days, with regional flooding once again.

What a snowstorm! And this is just the beginning! In the coming days, even more snow is expected due to strong stau against the Northern Alps. The snowline is still quite low as well.

A new season with new powder is coming! Another very warm summer is coming to an end and once again the Alpine glaciers have had a difficult period with large ice losses. Fortunately, the glaciers are getting a much-needed first layer of protection in the upcoming week and we are approaching the (hopefully snowy) winter.

It was a changeable start to the week with snow mainly in the Northwest Alps. The snowline was quite high on Monday, around 1800-2000 metres in most places, occasionally at increasing intensity temporarily below 1500 metres, but a nice layer of snow fell higher up anyway: 10 to 20 centimetres, locally also 30 centimetres.

A nice layer of snow follows over the next 24 hours for the Swiss Alps. It could have been a PowderAlert, but due to the limited amounts in a limited area and the subsequent very rapid warming on Thursday, I chose not to issue a PA.