Households without electricity

Winter is back: chaos in the south of Austria

The roads in Eibiswald in Styria are currently being cleared.(Bild: Marktgemeinde Eibiswald)

The past few days have already seen renewed snowfall in some federal states. On Tuesday night, however, the cold front finally reached the whole country. White greetings from Mrs. Holle can be found especially in the south. In Styria, thousands of households are even without electricity due to the weather. In addition, Asfinag is calling for winter-proof vehicles to be used in higher regions.

Summer temperatures are not expected for the next few days either. Fresh snow is expected almost everywhere on Tuesday due to an Italian low - especially in the south of Austria. Only Burgenland is likely to be spared. But it should rain everywhere.

The roads in Eibiswald in Styria are currently being cleared.(Bild: Marktgemeinde Eibiswald)

Thousands of households without power
While the Italian low is already causing traffic chaos in Carinthia in the morning hours, many households in south-western Styria are without power due to the snowfall. Around 100 transformer stations and 3,400 households were affected in the morning, according to Energie Steiermark.

The region southwest of Leibnitz was particularly affected. Additional fitters from Graz and eastern Styria were called in to carry out the repair work, announced Urs Harnik-Lauris, spokesman for Energie Steiermark in the morning.

Defusing expected around midday
In addition, the snow load on the leafy trees is causing snow breakage. Energie Steiermark expects the situation to ease around lunchtime.

In southern Styria, the fresh snow caused a number of power outages.(Bild: Energie Steiermark)

Snow chains compulsory in Carinthia
In Carinthia, snow chains were also compulsory on some higher roads, such as the Loibl Pass to Slovenia (B91), the Turracher Straße (B95) to Styria and the Katschberg Straße (B99) to Salzburg. The obligation to use snow chains on the Loibl Pass was lifted on Monday morning after the snow had been cleared.

ASFINAG switches to winter service
Up to 30 centimeters of snow is also possible in the Pack area on the A2 (Südautobahn) by Tuesday evening, and snow is also expected in Upper Styria and the Wechsel region. ASFINAG has therefore switched back to classic winter road maintenance in the affected regions and is deploying additional personnel. The Unterwald highway maintenance depot on the A2 in the Pack section alone has equipped five vehicles with snow plows.

Winter driving conditions may also occur in the west, especially on the higher routes. This applies in particular to the Arlberg Pass, which is currently the regional alternative route for traffic between Tyrol and Vorarlberg due to the closure of the Arlberg Tunnel.

Adapt speed to conditions
Asfinag is urging drivers to only drive with winter equipment, even though winter tires are no longer mandatory as of April 15, to adapt their speed to the conditions and increase the distance to the vehicle in front.

It only gets warmer at the weekend
The weather looks similar for the coming days. Snowfall is still to be expected and temperatures will not rise until the weekend. There will be a ray of hope from Friday: temperatures will rise again at the start of the weekend and could reach up to 16 degrees.