Xaver and Wilhelm are the two low pressure storm areas that are currently ruling northwestern Europe. The core pressure is between 960 and 970 mBar, which means this are two bad-ass storms. Check out how far the isobars stretch out, but also the short distances between them. A strong storm is pushing the swell in the Northsea towards Denmark, Germany, Holland and Belgium.
The storms Wilhelm and Xaver
This stormcombo is heading towards the Alps. Their will be a warning for severe weather in Germany and other parts of Europe the next 48 hours. You can check it on meteoalarm.eu. Especially Germany can expect some heavy weather. Rain, wind and later on Thursday and Friday snow. Lots of snow. You can expect around 30 centimeters in the German Highlands.
This front with lots of wind and precipitation arrives at the northern parts of the Alps (from the Swiss Glanerland to the resort of Hochkar in Austria) during the night from Thursday to Friday. Most snow will come down in the Swiss Glaner Alps, the resorts west and north of the Arlberg, the Kleinwalsertal, the resorts in the northern Alps of the Salzburgerland and the Dachstein area. You can expect around 20-35 centimeters in the Stau regions. Further east you can expect 25-50 centimeters. The differences will be quite big because of the wind, and this is wind might become a dealbraker east of Innsbruck. The wind is more powerful here and it will stick around longer. Not that great if you want to ride powder in a safe way. The last flakes will come down in the east of Switzerland and the west of Austria on Saturday. It’s still snowing further east, but the wind is still there as well.
A high pressure area will take over on Monday. If we have to believe the GFS models it just might be dry for about ten days. A huge high pressure blockade prevents storms to move to the Alps. The good news is that the air will become extremely dry and the sun isn’t that strong. Because it’s almost winter, it’s quite hard for the sunrays to penetrate the snowcover and the combination of dry air will limit the melting process to steeper south faces. Let’s hope the wind won’t cause to many problems, so you can have a tour on some alpine meadows.
Stay stoked
Morris
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WARNING: if you go out this weekend, beware of windslabs. With the wind (and the fresh snow) there is a life threatening danger of slab avalanches during the weekend. If you don’t have any knowledge about avalanches and windslabs, you should definitely consider to stay on piste. The winter is long and your moment of glory will come. Be patient!
What do you think of Kasberg or Hinterstoder? I´m thinking about some treeruns there on Sunday…
@shreddy_krueger. The more trees, the better… ‘Kräftiger Schneefall und Sturm lassen die Schneebrettsituation am Wochenende heikel werden! Speziell in den Nordsektoren lauert die Schneebrettgefahr, da die Reifschicht flächig zugedeckt wird.’ I would say Hinterstoder.