The forecast maps are live again and everybody who checked the snowmaps the last couple of days has seen some nice purple and yellow colors. It’s an indication that snow is on its way. The expert maps confirm this snowfall. A small, but bitchy low pressure area called Dagmar connected with the low pressure area that was placed of the Northsea and sucks a big ‘balloon’ with cold air towards the northern Alps.
This balloon with cold air contains enough humidity to drop some snow on the main alpine ridge in Austria and on the highest peaks in the first Alps. And if you have some time today, check out the webcams. The first snow is visible on the webcam in Kaprun and that will increase the next couple of hours. The precipitation is intense and the snow line will drop to 2000 meters (or even lower than that) during the night from Thursday to Friday. The snow line could drop to 1500 meters in the eastern parts of Tirol and the Salzburgerland on Friday.
But…the air that comes in after is pretty warm, so the snowfall will create a nice white blanket only for the higher alpine once the sun comes out. You can expect up to Saturday, above 2800 meters, around 20-45 centimeters of freshies. The snow line will rise up to 2500 meters on Saturday and the sun will do its devastating work on Sunday.
Is snow in September something good?
Well, it’s definitely good for the stoke, tour operators and some shops, but not particularly for us freeriders. The sun is still pretty high in the sky (you can compare the situation with the beginning of April) and beams its rays directly into the northern faces, causing the snow the melt eventually.
The runs on the long term all show higher temperatures, so this snowfall is good for the stoke, but we’ll have to wait till October/November for the first base layer that will last. But I’ll definitely keep my eyes on the webcams today and tomorrow.
I’ll keep you posted and update you regularly. Stay stoked, winter is coming!