Winter is here. A story of ice and snow.

[Tender Branson]

November so far has been twice (!) as warm here in Zell am See on average as the 1960-1990 average:

4.8°C between 1960-1990 vs. 9.8°C now.

In Austria, the year 2018 so far was 1.8°C warmer than the 1980-2010 average and 2.6°C warmer than the 1960-1990 average.

If December does not bring cold weather, 2018 will become the warmest year on record - beating 2014 (+1.7°C above normal).

[Tender Branson]

We currently have the same (unnaturally) warm and sunny weather as the Southern US and it's not projected to change for the next 10 days ...

I usually remember November as being at or below 0°C and mostly rainy or with early snowfall of several inches.

But now, there's been no snow at all so far and virtually no rain either.

I don't really mind it though: temps around 15°C in November are really cool and I spent some time hiking today.

[Ban my account ffs!]

All the cold air has been in central and east Asia, north Africa, the central US and Greenland.  It was -3*F (-20*C) in my hometown this morning.

A big pattern change will come to North America and Siberia, but the frigid Greenland/winterless Europe pattern will continue for at least 2-3 weeks more.

In NA a trough will build on the west coast and bring a storm train and end to the fire season.  The analogs were all great years for California skiers and winter storm lovers...1982, 1994, 2004, 2005, Nov 2009.  Meanwhile, mild conditions will build across the central and eastern US as the cold withdraws northward and stays in Greenland and Siberia.

[Ban my account ffs!]

The day 11 analogs have a truly interesting pattern.  The jet stream is splitting over the Atlantic and Europe.  The polar jet stream is far to the north and west of average with storms moving north and eastward to the west of Iceland along the east side of Greenland before moving over a massive Scandinavian high and diving back into central Russia.

Meanwhile, the subtropical jet becomes unusually strong flowing across North Africa and the Mediterranean into the Levant.  A low pressure center across southeast Europe, displaced by the massive Scandinavian high, will feed this.  I’d imagine the Middle East and North Africa will see unusual winter weather.

[Tender Branson]

It remains really mild, dry and sunny for mid-November.

It had 15°C (60°F) today and for the past weeks.

Maybe next Tuesday we could get the first snowfall, but this is uncertain. It depends if there's a low pressure system forming over Spain and then moves to northern Italy or not.

[Tender Branson]

It remains really mild, dry and sunny for mid-November.

It had 15°C (60°F) today and for the past weeks.

Maybe next Tuesday we could get the first snowfall, but this is uncertain. It depends if there's a low pressure system forming over Spain and then moves to northern Italy or not.

We got some first snow on Tuesday, but only an inch or so - which was quickly gone again.

On Monday and Tuesday on the other hand, it could be more ... maybe 5-10 inches.

The ski areas are about to open, so it's about time for a huge dump up there (there's still basically no snow even on top of the mountains).

[Tender Branson]

It remains really mild, dry and sunny for mid-November.

It had 15°C (60°F) today and for the past weeks.

Maybe next Tuesday we could get the first snowfall, but this is uncertain. It depends if there's a low pressure system forming over Spain and then moves to northern Italy or not.

We got some first snow on Tuesday, but only an inch or so - which was quickly gone again.

On Monday and Tuesday on the other hand, it could be more ... maybe 5-10 inches.

The ski areas are about to open, so it's about time for a huge dump up there (there's still basically no snow even on top of the mountains).

Nothing happened. No snow.

It still remains very mild for early December: usually is has -5 to -10°C by now, but yesterday it had +5 to +10°C.

But this Monday and Tuesday, they say that some snow will finally arrive.

We'll see ...

[Tender Branson]

2018 set to be hottest year in Austria's recorded history

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-12/20/c_137687938.htm

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

It was 15 °C today. It blows.

[Former President tack50]

Actually, I do like the current weather we are having over here. It's been like 2 weeks with no rain and very nice temperatures, around 23 ºC. My friends are actually going to the beach!

I do find it very unsettling though. Like I'm enjoying it, but I also know it's a bad thing. I'd much rather have colder and rainier winters even though I dislike that kind of weather (then again my region has the mildest winters and is quite dry anyways).

Fun fact: Here's the weather forecast for the next 2 weeks over here:



Chance of rainfall: 0% for all days except Friday (10%)

Very high humidity today apparently, but the rest of the week it will be around 50% except Thursday and Friday when it will climb to around 65%

[Tender Branson]

Things are changing right now.

Snowing like sh*t right now and there's about 1 meter of snow (more than 3 feet) expected over the next week.

Yesterday (still a lot of green on the ground):



Today:

[Tender Branson]

Now it's snowing non-stop.

Overnight and today, we got more than 1 foot of snow (ca. 40cm) and I spent some 2 hours of clearing the snow in front of my house.

And it is projected to keep on snowing non-stop until Sunday.

If this continues, we might get 4-6 feet of fresh powder snow ...

Thank goodness I have vacation, so I can remove the snow during the day. It would suck if I had to get up at 4am before work to do it ... or after work.

[Tender Branson]

Crap ...

We are drowning in snow. A total of 6 feet until tomorrow !

[Tender Branson]

Pictures from around the area:







Even the police had to dig themselves out ...



https://www.inthesnow.com/up-to-7-feet-of-snow-in-7-days-in-austria-and-eastern-alps

[dead0man]

<shock face>

where do they put it all?

[Former President tack50]

Wow, I'd honestly be very worried if I was living there lol. I certainly prefer "A story of no snow and sunshine"

Like it almost seems like your house could get submerged in Snow at any moment!

[Tender Branson]

Wow, I'd honestly be very worried if I was living there lol. I certainly prefer "A story of no snow and sunshine"

Like it almost seems like your house could get submerged in Snow at any moment!

Yeah, I wanted some snow to go snowshoeing - but not those amounts, lol.

I literally spent 2-3 hours each of the past days of my vacation removing the snow amounts ...

Outside my balcony is a 7 feet mountain of snow (= 2 meter high), which we removed from the car port recently.

tack: the homes here are usually built very massively (especially the roofs), so they can easily withstand 2-3 meters of snow on top of them. The problem is more that once the air gets much colder later on, the snow on the edges of the roof could literally kill you if these swathes crash down and someone is underneath the roof.

[Mike88]

No snow in Portugal, but temperatures are really low, particularly at night and early morning:

[Tender Branson]

No snow in Portugal, but temperatures are really low, particularly at night and early morning:

European "sunbelt" problems ...

[Mike88]

No snow in Portugal, but temperatures are really low, particularly at night and early morning:

European "sunbelt" problems ...

Hahaha... Yep!

[wxtransit]

Lol. We just had a flurry yesterday morning (our winter isn't even close to this and it typically doesn't start until February).

[Ban my account ffs!]

It looks like winter will remain at bay in the eastern US from a cold standpoint for the next two weeks as the cold focuses on Europe and western Russia.  California seems to be in for a stormy time.  The incoming storm will drop 4-5’ of snow in the mountains and heavy rains will lead to landslide risks.

The longer range forecast is for cold to move into the east from mid-January with a good chance of lasting into April.

Weak to moderate El-Niño events often feature a pattern of (against the averages) large swings of cold-warm-cold-warm in the eastern US that tend to occur at similar times of year.  Most often it is cold October into November, mild December into January, then the worst period of cold from mid-January to early March, often followed by an early spring that is then extended because of cold in late spring.

Recent examples of such winters are 2014/15, 2009/10, 2006/07, 2002/03.

[Tender Branson]

It is expected that there will be additional snowfall (!) of several feet over the next week (when I'm back at work).

But the pictures of the snow amounts and the landscape I'm going to take once this system has passed are going to be awesome ...

I hope that there's good weather by next weekend and the avalanche risk is low again, so that I can snow-shoe up the mountain and can take images of the 7 feet snowscape.

[Tender Branson]

I thought down in the valley we have a lot of snow, but on the mountain it's a whole different level:



https://www.instagram.com/zellamseekaprun

[Tender Branson]

"Crap, I forgot my laptop in the car ..."