High pressure ensures a quiet week with hardly any precipitation
This week awaits us with a relatively calm week with little precipitation and high temperatures, especially in the high mountains. Today and Wednesday there may be some precipitation, but for the rest of the week it will be mostly sunny and dry.
In this weather forecast:
- Cloudy in the Northern Alps due to a weak cold front
- High freezing level
- Snow in the Maritime Alps on Wednesday
- Possible changeable weather from the weekend
Weak cold front
Although the Alps are under high pressure, last night's front analysis above shows that to the east of the high pressure area a north-westerly flow sends a weak cold front to the Alps. The cold front will bring clouds and some precipitation mainly on the northern side, but in the inner Alpine areas it will clear up during the day. The south-eastern Alps have also started the day with some precipitation, but it will slowly clear up again during the day.
Rising freezing level
As I already mentioned in my weather report on Friday, the temperature is rising considerably, especially higher up. Starting tomorrow, the zero degree line will even be well above 3000 metres in large parts of the Alps. High pressure over Scandinavia moves to the southeast and connects with the high over western Europe, which means that a large part of the Alps won't have to expect any precipitation until the end of the week. Only on Wednesday in the extreme southwest some precipitation may fall.
Snow for the Maritime Alps on Wednesday
Wednesday will be less sunny than Tuesday, due to a south-easterly flow. Piemonte, under the influence of the depression over the Mediterranean Sea, will be able to get some precipitation. The weather models still differ a bit: our weather model is still a bit reserved, but 20 to 30 centimetres could be possible in the Maritime Alps. However, the snow line will rise from around 1800 metres to 2200 or even 2500 metres due to the fairly mild south-easterly wind. If the wind is not too strong and there is a lot of precipitation, the snowline may stay quite low for a while due to evaporative cooling.
Increasing snow chances from the weekend onwards
After two quiet days on Thursday and Friday, an approaching depression will increase the chances for snow during the weekend. Both the European and the American model show snowfall, but the position of the depression still differs strongly. More on this in a new weather report on Wednesday!