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.

[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

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

[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

[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.

[Tender Branson]

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

European "sunbelt" problems ...

[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 ..."

[Tender Branson]

Absolute brutality here right now (... and more snow is on the way):



A ski-bar on a mountain during a normal winter (top) ... and now (bottom):



Car "rescue" in Obertauern:

[Tender Branson]

Some small towns in Salzburg, Styria and Tyrol are currently not accessible because the roads are blocked with 2-4 meters of snow (that's 7 to 13 feet of snow) or due to heavy avalanche risk.

Helicopters are dropping food and medicine in these towns, where hundreds of tourists are also kept from driving back home for at least a week now.

A vacation of the other sort ...

[Tender Branson]

You were complaining about a lack of snow!  That is quite an impressive and overwhelming amount though.

Yeah, but certainly not this amount ...

I like a good dump of about 2-3 feet though.

Anyway, old people say that they last experienced these snowfalls here in the 1960s and early 1970s, so this is classified as a "30-year to 100-year"-event by our climate scientists.

[Tender Branson]

Good news for drought-plagued CA, I guess ...