[Blog] Alps Weather Blog 5th January 2013

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After the Christmas break, this is the first forecast in 2013 and there will be a weekly forecast right through until April. Many times over recent years we have seen a very good start to the season, but things turning worse as we move into the new year. Will this happen this year. Very much an east west split this week, mild over western parts, but much colder for Eastern parts, with Austria seeing the best of the cold weather and the snow this week. Definitely a week to be on the slopes, and not worrying about long term conditions.<br /><br /><strong class='bbc'>Synoptic Charts </strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>The weather pattern starts with low Pressure over Greenland and the Western Atlantic, High Pressure ridging from Iberia through the UK to Western Scandinavia and much of Western mainland Europe, with a mild South Westerly flow here. Low Pressure over Eastern Europe with Northerly winds keeping it cold here. </span><br /><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>Little change over the weekend, but the pattern moving slightly further east, putting more of Europe into the mild air, with the cold in Eastern Europe pushing away further east. </span><br /><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>By Tuesday and Wednesday, the High Pressure covering most of mainland Europe, so the cold restricted to Far East and into Greece.  Largely mild over the UK and the Alps during this time,  however always colder to the East, with cold air fringing eastern parts of Austria and very cold for Bulgaria further East. </span><br /><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>Towards the end of the week a change in the pattern with Low Pressure over Scandinavia introducing a cold NE flow over Scandinavia and into the UK, and over Northern parts of mainland Europe  Possibly turning very cold over NE mainland Europe, and generally turning cooler over the Alps and the UK</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong class='bbc'><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>Alps Detail</span></strong><br /><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>A cursory look at the charts below show a lot of red, more especially towards the west, this indicates a great deal of mild weather over the western half of the Alps this week, with High Pressure and a Very Mild Tropical Maritime air mass. </span><br /><br /><strong class='bbc'><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>Sat 5 Jan</span></strong><br /><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>A dry day over Western parts of the Alps, but an area of heavy precipitation for Austria and South Eastern Germany, the heaviest of the precipitation concentrated over the Tyrol. The precipitation lasting through the late morning and afternoon, fading away a bit during the evening, still some heavy bursts, more especially into South Germany by evening.  Snow Levels around 1300-1600m (noon), dropping to around 1100-1400 by midnight.  </span><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>Freezing Levels Max French Alps 2400m-3000m, Italy 2100m (NE) – 3000m (more generally), Switzerland 1800m -2400m, Austria 1300m-1800m, Southern Germany 1500m-1800m</span>.<br /><br /><br /><strong class='bbc'><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>Sun 6 Jan</span></strong><br /><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>The overnight precipitation from yesterday slowly moves eastwards, into NE Austria, during the day, with some heavy bursts at times, Further South and West a much drier day. Snow Levels 1000-1200m. </span><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>Freezing Levels Max French Alps 3000-3300m, Italy 2100m (NE) – 3300m (W), Switzerland 2400m (E) - 3000m (W), Austria 1200m (E) -2100m (W),  Southern Germany 1200m (E) -3000m (W)</span><br /><br /><br /><strong class='bbc'><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>Mon 7 Jan</span></strong><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>Mostly Dry over the Alps, but a notable exception over Austria and SE Germany, precipitation will continue here through much of the day, some of the bursts again heavy, however signs of this finally fading as we move into the evening, Snow Levels 1000-1200m.</span><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>French Alps 3000m, Italy 1800m (NE) – 3000m (W), Switzerland 2100m (E) - 3000m (W), Austria 500m (E) -1800m (W),  Southern Germany 1000m (E) -3000m (W)</span><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>However overnight freezing levels dropping to 500-700m, much lower than recent nights. </span><br /><br /><br /><strong class='bbc'><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>Tues 8 Jan</span></strong><br /><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>Mostly dry over the Alps however the odd shower cannot be ruled out for parts of Austria.  </span><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>Freezing Levels Max Over 3000m French Alps, W Italy, W Switzerland, 2500-3000, SW Germany, E Switzerland, Central Italy, 2000m-2500m SE Germany, W Austria, E Italy, 1500-2000m, Central Austria, 500m-1500m far west Austria </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong class='bbc'><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>Wed 9 Jan</span></strong><br /><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>The precipitation charts indicate a dry day over the Alps </span><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>French Alps 2700-3000m, Italy 2100m (NE) – 2700m (W), Switzerland 2700m (generally), Austria 2100m (E) -2700m (W), under 500m (far west), Southern Germany 2100m (E) - 2400m (W)</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong class='bbc'><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>End of Week</span></strong><br /><br /><span style='font-family: Calibri","sans-serif'>A change in weather pattern is currently forecast, so instead of high pressure with mild weather over much of the Alps. However Thursday looks colder, Friday colder still, with some snow pushing in from the North West down to resort levels. I will not go into that much detail at this stage, as it is a long way out. </span><br /><br /><br /><strong class='bbc'>Outlook </strong><br />Looking Very Cold Next Week over the Alps as colder air pushes in from the North, however this is a long way off.

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