Extreme forecast

Fears of continuous rain and masses of snow

A lot of fresh snow is expected in the mountains: It's good to have an emergency ration of hay ready on the mountain pasture.(Bild: ROLAND HOLITZKY)

The current weather forecasts are causing concern. From Thursday it will be extreme, especially in the west! The constant rain in the valley will be joined by masses of snow on the mountains and a drop in temperature is imminent. But the weather will also be cold and wet elsewhere in the coming days. 

Lightning blue skies with bathing and hiking weather prevailed in Tyrol at the weekend - but the change to continuous rain and a huge onset of winter on the mountains is now really something special.

From Thursday to Sunday
"It starts on Thursday night and the whole thing will probably only calm down on Sunday," said Konstantin Brandes from the UBIMET weather service for the "Krone" newspaper, looking at the latest forecast maps.

Heavy continuous rain is expected in the valley. "In Innsbruck around 80 to 100 liters per square meter, in the lowlands more than 150 liters in some places," the expert specifies. For comparison: an average September, i.e. a whole month, has around 80 liters of precipitation in Innsbruck.

More than 1.50 meters of snow possible
It will be deep winter in the mountains. Brandes expects amounts of around 1.50 or even 1.80 meters in the high mountains, for example in the Zillertal Alps. Thanks to snow on the mountains, the risk of large-scale flooding is decreasing.

It is also likely to be white on the Brenner Pass or in Hochfilzen. The snow line is likely to drop to 1000 meters at times.

Konstantin Brandes, Wetterdienst UBIMET

Behind the extreme weather is a Vb weather situation (i.e. five Bs). A Mediterranean low that will ultimately shovel enormous amounts of precipitation from the north-east (Poland and the Czech Republic) towards us. According to Brandes, there is a small caveat: "Such weather conditions cannot be precisely recorded in advance. A shift of 100 kilometers over Romania can decide whether it rains most heavily in the Tyrolean lowlands or rather in Salzburg." The Adriatic provides a lot of energy for the weather kitchen, with the sea recently reaching 28 degrees.

There is also a certain historical tradition of stockpiling food on the mountain pasture. Because in the past, without forecasts, the onset of winter came as a surprise.

Michael Jäger, Vize-Obmann Tiroler Almwirtschaftsverein

Bild: © Simon Fischler

Emergency feeding on alpine pastures - or prematurely down into the valley?
How do the operators of around 2100 Tyrolean mountain pastures react? "The vast majority of farmers are keeping themselves well informed. Many can fall back on emergency feeding and the animals can also stay in the barn for a few days," says Michael Jäger, Vice Chairman of the Tyrolean Alpine Pasture Association. In some valleys, however, the cattle trucks are already on the road because some are ending the alpine season early.

From the middle of the week, however, it will not only be exciting for alpine pasture operators and the Tyrolean region, but the rest of Austria is also threatened by cold and sometimes heavy rainfall: Although sunshine will dominate earlier on Wednesday, more clouds will make themselves felt later in the afternoon. However, temperatures will remain above the 20 degree mark. They could even reach up to 26 degrees one last time. 

A lot of fresh snow is expected in the mountains: Good to have an emergency ration of hay ready on the mountain pasture.(Bild: ROLAND HOLITZKY)

Rain showers across the country
On Thursday, however, the weather situation will worsen across the country: 15 degrees is the daily maximum, elsewhere it could be as low as 8 degrees. It will be wet throughout the country, with the snow line dropping from north to south to between 1200 and 2000 meters above sea level by the evening. 

Highs of only 11 degrees
Towards the weekend, the weather will continue to be unsettled in almost all of Austria. According to meteorologists, it will rain frequently during the day on Friday, especially along the northern side of the Alps. The snow line will continue to drop to between 1100 and 1500 meters above sea level. Then it will also be time to put on a jacket, as temperatures will no longer exceed 13 degrees. Saturday will be similar. We're looking at a bitter 11 degrees, in the north and east we can expect heavy rain in places ...