WeatherBlog 6 2020/21 | (Partly) white Christmas!

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Change in weather brings snow in the north

by Lea Hartl • 12/23/2020

Varied prospects for the Christmas season!

Good news for the Northern Alps! The Christmas thaw is still raging at the moment, but from Thursday evening it will get colder from the north with snow down to low altitudes. Presumably, a Christmas alarm will go out in the northern congested areas. We are eagerly awaiting a message from the oracle!

Current situation, Christmas weather

At the moment, the Alps are still in a mild westerly current with a slight southerly component. At higher altitudes, it is quite windy with partly dense, high cloud cover. The zero boundary is approaching 3000m. Tomorrow, Thursday, a cold front will reach the Alps from the northwest during the course of the day. It will bring much cooler air with it and will bring a very marked change in the Christmas weather. It will probably rain and snow in the northern Alps as early as tomorrow afternoon, and the precipitation is likely to slowly make its way south over the main ridge during the night of Friday (December 24-25). The snow line will fall over time. In the north, it may initially rain at lower altitudes, but gradually the precipitation is likely to change to snow quite widely. Christmas Day will also be cloudy and wet in the north. In the south, it will clear up a little with north föhn.

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500hPa geopotential and ground pressure, 25.12. Cold air from the north flows in and brings precipitation.

meteociel.fr

We'll leave the details on the snow line and the expected amounts to the oracle. The WeatherBlog suspects it will be a nice snow update for the regions of the northern Alps that already have a base. Where there is still a lack of snow, the fresh snow is also a nice Christmas present, but it will be enough for rock-free alpine meadow tours, not for scree couloirs or the very dense forest.

On December 26, the last showers in the north should soon subside. Thanks to intermediate highs, it will be very sunny across the board - probably a beautiful mountain day with sunshine and fresh snow for all those who currently have the opportunity to go ski touring or perhaps even use Schrödinger's ski lifts. The avalanche situation should of course be taken into account despite the holiday mood.

The further outlook

It remains exciting! As the word "intermediate high pressure" suggests, the high pressure will not last. Behind the small high that briefly moves towards us on Saturday, an Atlantic low is waiting to move from Iceland across the British Isles towards France and the Alps. As this low approaches on Sunday, the current will turn to the southwest. Föhn winds will set in in the north and clouds will move in from the west. In the southern western Alps it will start to rain/snow on Sunday and further east there will probably also be heavy südstau on Monday. Let's see if our PowderOracle has anything to say about this again!

The WeatherBlog will keep it short today, clear the field for the oracle and wish everyone happy and relaxing holidays!