First snowfall for the high alpine

The start of meteorological autumn is approaching. For meteorologists, September 1 marks the transition from summer to autumn. It is not unusual to be able to record the first snow for the high alpine just before this date. And it’s happening again this summer. A current from the northwest provides the supply of cooler air from the north and this will result in a temporarily white cover for the high alpine and lots of rain in the valleys on the northern side of the Alps. Whoever wants to climb the highest Alpine passes with a bike or car, go for the peak of a high mountain or do something else in the high alpine this weekend, should know that there’s some interesting weather coming up.

A storm depression on the Atlantic ocean is expanding and moving towards Scandinavia in the course of Friday. To the west of this depression, the wind turns northwest to north, allowing significantly cooler air to travel south towards the northwest and north of the Alps. Especially in the high alpine of the eastern Alps this can provide a lot of precipitation. This will come down as rain In the valleys and like snow at the peaks.

That will result in the following storm cycle next weekend:

1. Silence before the storm. The Alps are still under the protective influence of a high pressure area, but it loses its grip on the Alps due to an approaching storm depression from the west (red arrow). The high pressure area is thereby pushed away (black arrow) towards Russia.
2. Powerful northwest. The storm depression on the Atlantic Ocean is heading towards Scandinavia and will breach the high-pressure belts in southern Europe. This creates an opening between the high pressure areas on the Atlantic and Russia. Cool and humid air is pushed towards the Alps (red arrow) by a northern current. This will result in precipitation in the northwest of the Alps first, but later in the entire northern Alps including the main alpine ridge and the bordering areas to the south. Especially in Carinthia and northeastern Italy they can expect a lot of rain.
3. The peace returns. High pressure will join the battle again on Sunday. The high pressure area on the Atlantic manages to connect with the high pressure in the east (black arrow) with which the breach is closed and the supply of cooler air stops.

Colors on the snow maps!

With the invasion of cold air, the snow maps come back to life and the colors that I love so much pop up again. Colors that you can also view in detail here.. The first rain pulls into the Alps on Friday, but the temperature is still pretty high. There is a real temperature drop where the snow line drops quickly only on Saturday and Sunday. The front lingers over the eastern Alps and especially in the main alpine ridge of Austria and the bordering regions in Italy it snows and rains heavily. The snow line drops from 3900 meters on Friday to 2500 and later even temporarily to 2000 meters on Saturday and Sunday.

As said, it will only be cold for a short periode of time, but sufficiently intense to make outdoor activities for the weekend more risky. Therefore prepare well or postpone them. After the weekend, the peace returns. For how long is still uncertain.

This first indications of changing seasons aren’t exactly a reason to grab your skis or snowboard. Snowfall in August and September are great to get into that winter stoke feeling again, but mean nothing for winter. Let’s all watch some white webcam images on Sunday!.