Mild and little snow

This winter was the driest in 28 years

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Miroslav Posavec)

According to weather experts, the winter of 2024/25 has so far been too mild and sunnier than average - but one thing above all: unusually dry. If you're looking for a winter with even less precipitation, you have to look far into the past ...

"Very often this winter there were high-pressure weather systems that diverted low-pressure areas to the north or south of Europe," explained Alexander Orlik from GeoSphere Austria, "seen over the entire area of Austria, the meteorological winter of 2024/25 brought 45 percent less precipitation than an average winter. It was the driest winter in 28 years - since the winter of 1996/97 - and one of the ten driest winters in recorded history."

Precipitation amounts

• Vienna Hohe Warte weather station: 36 millimetres of precipitation were measured up to and including 25.2. The driest winter here was 1850/51 with 25 millimetres. The series of measurements goes back to 1841.
• Graz University weather station: 35 millimetres of precipitation were measured up to and including 25.2. The driest winter here was 1881/82 with 22 millimeters. The series of measurements goes back to 1837.

Little snowfall on the mountain and in the valley
In terms of precipitation, the low snowfall in the valley and on the mountains is striking. "It rarely snowed at low altitudes in Austria and any snow that fell soon melted again. It didn't snow often on the mountains either, but it was cold enough here for the snow to last a long time," reported the climatologist.

Negative records for fresh snow

• Vienna Hohe Warte: 1 centimeter - the lowest amount of new snow in the series of new snow measurements since 1952. The lowest value to date was 2 centimetres in winter 2019/20.
• Rudolfshütte in the Hohe Tauern in Salzburg: 104 centimetres - the lowest value since the series of measurements began in 1963. The lowest value to date was 145 centimetres in the winter of 2009/2010.
• Reichenau an der Rax in Lower Austria: 3 centimetres - the lowest amount of fresh snow in the series of fresh snow measurements since 1983. The previous lowest value here was 9 centimetres in the winter of 1988/89.
• Deutschlandsberg in Styria: 7 centimeters - the lowest amount of fresh snow in the series of fresh snow measurements since 1984. The previous lowest value here was 9 centimetres in the winter of 1988/89.

Another very mild winter
Once again, this year's winter was very mild, but did not match the previous year, when the second warmest winter in recorded history was recorded. In the lowlands, this year's winter "ranks 15th in the series of the warmest winters in the 258-year measurement history and 9th in the 174-year mountain measurement series," says Orlik.