Alps: A week of changeable weather, with the invasion of winter in the making as of Friday

a happy new year! Last night a cold front passed over the Alps from west to east. It was white in many places this morning with a thin layer of fresh snow. After a dry and sunny New Year's Day, there will be plenty of rain tomorrow in the Western Alps. There could be a lot of snow again in Italian ski areas on Friday. It seems that winter is about to attack to seize power in the Alps.

Today will remain dry and there will be more and more clear spells. A beautiful New Year's Day is going out in the mountains or skiing on the slopes. It will feel a bit wintery with the fresh layer of powder and near-freezing temperatures at 1,500 metres.

Tomorrow is heavy rain and snow in the Western Alps

Tomorrow, another front will move towards the Alps from the west, and this time it will be a warm front. In addition to the soft air again, there is also mainly humid air. As a result, Stowe will rise from the west early tomorrow morning. Due to the soft air, the snowfall threshold gradually rises again to an altitude of about 1,800 metres. Because the air is moist, it is easy for the atmosphere to compress it. I expect the center of gravity to be in the French Alps, where 40cm of snow may fall locally at higher altitudes. Rain and snow will continue to fall overhead throughout the day. The heaviest rain will fall tomorrow evening. The weather will slowly become drier overnight into Wednesday. Elsewhere in the Alps, the weather will be drier, but tomorrow will be a dreary day with lots of clouds.

Sun and shower

Wednesday and especially Thursday seem to be beautiful days with lots of sun. Rain will not fall from the northwest until later Wednesday. The timing of these showers seems to be the end of the afternoon, especially the evening. On Wednesday, especially at the beginning of the day, there will be a lot of sun. Snowfall limit at an average altitude of 1500 metres. Anything higher than that can expect 2 to 4 inches of snow. On Thursday morning, the rain will quickly disappear and the sun will return.

Heavy snow will fall on the south side on Friday and Saturday

Later in the week, attention will mainly focus on Friday. From England, a depression moves southeast along the Alps towards Italy. It looks like it will snow heavily on Friday in the ski areas of western Italy. For a long time now, südstau could arise again and snow amounts could increase significantly. Saturday looks like it will be the southern side of Austria and the eastern side of the Italian Alps. It's still a bit early for details on quantities and timing, but the developments are hopeful for ski areas further south!

Conquering the winter cold

Finally, it seems that the ultra-soft era is coming to an end. We've been seeing a lot of cold in Scandinavia for some time, but the distribution of pressure made it impossible for this cold air to spread over Western Europe. The cold and snow experienced in the Alps in recent weeks was mainly due to temporarily cold air after the disturbances passed. There was no real winter cold. but; Due to the path of the above-mentioned low pressure area, the winds eventually shift to a northerly/northeasterly flow. Winter can finally begin the journey to the southern regions. Below are two maps of upper air temperature at an altitude of 1500 metres. On the left is the photo from Thursday night and on the right is the photo from Saturday morning. We see cold air moving counterclockwise from the northeast into western Europe.

Cards full of hope for both the Alps and the Low Countries. Because the upper air temperature over the north of the Netherlands is about -10 degrees. This is seriously cold. Is winter finally coming? We will continue to monitor it! Keep following Alpenweerman! Also due to the possibility of snowfall in the Southern Alps. And when it comes to winter in the Low Countries we will report on it. beautiful day!

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Traffic controller and slip coordinator at Rijkswaterstaat. He is also a junior meteorologist at Weerplaza.