Unfortunately, after the short snowfall last week, the chances of more snowfall are over again. We return to the kind of weather that is dominated by high air pressure, warm temperatures at altitude and a lot of sun. Snowfall only seems possible again only towards the end of the week, especially for the Southern Alps. A depression over the Mediterranean may surprise us, but weather models disagree. In other words, the winter has been taking part in all the malaise so far. It’s NOvember in every way …
Snowfall in the Caucasus
Now that we don’t have to expect any powder in the Alps in the short term, due to the high-pressure dominance, let’s take a look at another location where the first signs of winter are actually happening. A lot of snow has fallen in the Caucasus in recent days. Georgia already has a good base for the rest of the season. It will take a while, but hopefully we will see these images as soon as possible in the Alps.
Rising air pressure
^The forecasts on wePowder are powdered by our friends at Ortovox
As expected, the cold front passed quickly last Thursday and not much more than 5 to 20 centimeters of snow fell on the north side of the Alps. In some parts of Austria, the snow line has reached the valleys, making it temporarily white there too.
The Western Alps have a friendly start with plenty of sun today, while the other parts of the Alps are still overcast. A weak disturbance grazes eastern Austria during the course of the day, causing a temporary snowfall to the east of Salzburg above 1500 meters. The front has softened considerably under the influence of high pressure, so that we can expect nothing more than a cosmetic layer. It will also stay dry in most places.
High pressure weather
In the coming days we will be dealing again with typical high pressure weather. Sunshine and a warm upper air layer dominate the weather. The solar radiation in combination with a freezing level at 3000 meters ensures that the southern slopes up to 2500 meters are largely free of snow again. Most of the snow will now remain on the northern slopes above 2000 meters, but the snow cover will still be very thin.
This high-pressure setting involves descending movements, which ensure that the clouds can dissolve and the sun dominates. The image above shows a cross-section of the European continent from south (left) to north (right). These descending movements are clearly visible in almost the entire air column above the Alps.
Possible Südstau on the way?
For a few calculations in a row, the models show a low-pressure area above the Mediterranean before the end of the week. Now it also seems possible that the Southern Alps will benefit from this setting. There is even a small chance that a Südstau can develop from Friday / Saturday in the coming days. The ECMWF is happy with this and the latest calculations show some temporarily snowfall in the Southern Alps, while the GFS mainly directs the precipitation towards the Balkans and Greece. So we absolutely cannot talk about details yet, because a lot can still change. More on this Thursday!
wePowder guide can be ordered again!
We can’t travel to the Alps, winter is still coming, but the preparation can already start! Whatever it will look like, the wePowder Guide is available again in the pre-order. For € 45.00 (excl. shipping) this thick book of 400+ pages will be delivered to you mid-December! Thanks for your support!