In the last days appeared much news about record snowfall in the Alps, up to 2 meters in Zillertal Arena, Austria, or extreme amounts of snow in Obertauern, Germany, however, a bigger picture from the region is more pessimistic.
The snow-covered area of the Alps is currently the 3rd lowest on record since 2001!
The snow deficit is particularly evident in the southern and western Alps, especially in the southwest.
“Early-spring” pattern in the last period brought warm spell/heatwave above southwestern Europe, with temperatures up to +22°C in Italian parts of the Alps and extreme +21,4°C in Lugano, Switzerland /https://mkweather.com/nao-heatwave-is-bringing-summer-france-248c-spain-280c-morocco-321c-western-sahara-331c/; https://mkweather.com/early-spring-weather-is-coming-switzerland-214c-spain-267c-morocco-298c/; https://mkweather.com/tenerife-hit-floods-from-32-mm-rainfall-in-a-few-hours-agadir-morocco-already-317c//.
It appears, that the rest of winter will be very poor in the Alps, too /https://mkweather.com/early-spring-is-coming-nao-with-blocking-admixtures-will-bring-very-warm-february-and-march-2022-in-europe/; https://mkweather.com/ecmwf-6-week-forecast-for-europe-temperatures-up-to-22c-in-mid-latitudes-and-28c-in-the-mediterranean-in-february-and-25c-30c-in-march/; https://mkweather.com/the-second-february-week-in-europe-will-be-extremely-warm-temperatures-above-20c-in-mid-latitudes-and-30c-possible-in-the-mediterranean/, although, the next relatively strong Arctic blast is already forecast for the period 12.-17. February 2022 /https://mkweather.com/after-early-spring-big-temperature-differences-12-17-february-short-but-strong-arctic-blast-but-quickly-23c-in-central-europe//.
This should be very bad for Alpine glaciers in the summer season of 2022 and if Summer 2022 really will be strongly NAO-, with severe heatwaves and storms, melting should be this year thanks to early-spring NAO+ very early and near long-term record values.
Meanwhile, in Japan, totally opposite problems are reported, with 432 cm snow on the northern coast of Honshu, in Sukayu (record snowfall in the snowiest city in the Earth: https://mkweather.com/sukayu-japanese-coast-with-a-record-432-cm-snow-cover/).
NAO+ means very warm and dry February and March for the Alps (and all Mediterranean and gradually continental Europe), but calm weather, very good for outdoor activities, including highly-elevated winter centers.
Illustration picture: Sources – Simon Gascoin Twitter
