Winter forecast 2018-2019: green Christmas for lower parts of the Alps?

Sepp Haslinger says that he can predict the weather in the winter with the help of a so-called "Königskerze" (Verbascum Thapsus). He did that last year (see video above) and has been doing this for years and he also made a prediction for the coming winter to come. He checks whether the "Königskerze" blooms, when it blooms and how long it blooms. His conclusion this year: "Keine Blüte, kein Schnee, nach alten Schema", or no blooming flower, means no snow. After which he adds that the "Königskerze" has shown his flowers for only a short period of time.

Based on his observations he comes to the following conclusions for winter 2018-2019:

• The first snow for the lower elevations will fall at the end of October/beginning of November
• Regular snowfall until December
• But from the solstice (21 December) it will be dry
• We may forget about a white Christmas according to him
• Quite a lot of snow in January with mild periods from time to time
• The months thereafter we'll have to wait for a closed snow cover
• But that waiting will be in vain
• Although he doesn't rule out that we might have to search for eggs in the snow during Easter (21/22 April 2019). (source)

Note: Sepp does his forecast for the lower elevated areas (700-1000 meters altitude) and for the part where he lives, so the northern Alps. He does not say anything about the rest of the Alps.

Is Sepp always right?

Yes, he is always right, according to Sepp himself. But he was not really right during (winter 15-16) and winter 17-18 (no snow at all).

His forecast for winter 16-17 on the other hand was really spot on.

Let's see what will happen this year. What we'll have to do with this information? „I sog des ja nicht für die Skifahrer“, says Sepp.