WeatherBlog 6/2015 - Christ Child with whip

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Normal temperatures during the holidays

by Lea Hartl • 12/23/2014

Not really wintry in Bavaria last weekend

Lea Hartl

Over the past few days, the weather in the Alpine region has been dominated by a strong westerly current produced by a low over northern Europe and a high in the south. The high in the south was strong enough to steer most of the disturbances north of the Alps. It was warm and sunny in Austria and Bavaria, while it poured down in northern Germany, which is at least a little less summery.

The outlook

While yesterday (23.12.) still looked rather unexciting for the future, today (24.12.) presents a different picture. The models have changed their opinions relatively radically overnight and now see a weather situation that inspires the quality press to publish an "ice air alert", or warnings of the "cold whip" or alternatively the "cold tongs". The comments from readers are also entertaining (from "You should also think of the poor people who can no longer afford the heating costs!" to "I don't care, it's 27 degrees here in Phuket." everything is included)". We recommend this to all those who get bored between decorating the tree and eating cookies.

Whether we really need to be afraid of whips and tongs remains to be seen, but perhaps we should start getting a warm jacket from the attic for our Christmas walks. While many places will still be in the double-digit plus degrees on Christmas Eve, temperatures will drop to typical December levels on the 25th with the arrival of a cold front, which sometimes means a fairly abrupt drop of 15 to 20 degrees. In terms of snow, the northern conurbations will be favored, and in general it should snow a little on the northern edge of the Alps between Christmas Day and Boxing Day down to many valleys. It won't be enough for an alarm from colleague Orakel. The south is likely to remain dry and rather clear with a strong north föhn.

High - Over - Low

Towards the weekend, a high-over-low situation is developing. The Icelandic low and the Azores high will swap places. This blocks the westerly drift, meaning that the cold whip may not be blown away immediately, but may continue to whip a little next week. After the light north föhn on the holidays, the models see an Italian low, which turns the whole thing around - north föhn becomes south föhn and when it snows, it snows on the southern slopes of the Alps, sometimes heavily. As far as that's concerned, the WeatherBlog isn't going to go too far out on a limb today.

Happy Christmas

There hasn't been such a winter-friendly outlook that's also reasonably reliable, at least as far as temperatures are concerned. A bad start to winter does not automatically mean a bad rest of winter, as we last saw in 2012/13. The WeatherBlog wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and, depending on your preferences, of course also a Merry Solstice, a Happy Hannukah and a happy general celebration of winter. In addition to the required cheerfulness, let us also be a little devout and remember the sometimes very suboptimal snow cover (the snow situation in the following picture is also unattractive, but not meant to be.)