Advent got off to a remarkably wintry start this year. Almost all of Austria was white in early December. In Vienna there was more than 20 centimeters of snow than in ten years, and in Upper Austria and Upper Styria half a meter fell in some places.
After the snow came the intense cold. In Liebenau, in the Mühlviertel region of Upper Austria, the temperature dropped to minus 25.4 degrees. Some capitals also recorded temperatures below zero in the double digits. At minus 11.5 degrees, it was colder in St. Pölten than it had been in December in 13 years.
ORF Almost all of Austria was covered in snow on the first Sunday of Advent. The snow here is shown in turquoise, the clouds are white.
Thaw instead of the winter cold
Winter's friends gave way to slight disappointment. The snow has decreased significantly and in many places has completely disappeared again. Not only did the melting ice leave scars on the lowlands, but the warm weather also caused snow in the Alps. In Reutte in Tyrol (842 meters) and Abtenau (Salzburg, 709 meters) the snow cover has decreased from half a meter to a few centimeters, in Kernhof (Lower Austria, 679 meters) there are only traces of the once 40 centimeters.
On the other hand, snow conditions are better in the mountains and higher places. More than two meters of snow accumulated in Galzig (Tirol, 2,079 meters), more than 70 centimeters in Warth (Vorarlberg, 1,478 meters) and more than 40 centimeters in Schmirn (Tirol, 1,464 meters). In Ramsau am Dachstein (Styria) and Krimml (Salzburg) there are still a good 20 centimeters left, and here too it should be enough for a white Christmas.
Christmas is only white in the heights
The best chance of still being covered in snow on Christmas Eve is above 800 or 900 meters elevation. At least some of the snow that exists now should survive the massive melt in the coming days. Only around six percent of Austria's population lives above 800 meters in altitude. At lower elevations, the chances of fresh snow at Christmas are significantly lower.
There is currently a high across the Alpine region, with mild air extending high up. From Wednesday it will become rainier and the fronts will bring repeated precipitation from the northwest. In the lowlands, however, it is likely to be mostly rain. It will also be temporarily stormy.
This would continue what has now become a long series of green Christmases in the Lowlands. But there is still a small chance of heavy snow later in the week. Some weather models predict a strong influx of cold air, meaning things could get even more exciting this year just before the festival.
Green Christmas Trend
With the exception of Klagenfurt, where two years ago there was 17 centimeters of snow for giving gifts, the last white Christmas in all capitals was more than ten years ago. This is demonstrated by an analysis by the ORF meteorological editorial team of data from GeoSphere Austria. It has been 27 years since the whole of Austria was covered in a blanket of snow, that was in 1996. Since the 2000s, white Christmases have become noticeably rarer at low altitudes.
ORF.at/Sandra Schober
The youngest people in St. Pölten only know White Christmas from the stories told by their parents and grandparents. It is the state capital with the longest snowfall and last turned white on Christmas Eve, 16 years ago. There were still regular white Christmases in the 1980s and 1990s. In St. Pölten it snowed enough seven times in these two decades.
The reason for the increasingly rare white Christmas: rising temperatures due to man-made climate change. The average temperature in December in Austria has already increased by 1.5 degrees since the 1990s. This inevitably has an impact on the snow situation at Christmas.
However, from a climatological point of view, Christmas is also quite unfavorable for white splendor. Warmer weather regularly occurs around the Christmas holidays in Central Europe, the Christmas thaw. Last year was particularly unforgiving: 15.6 degrees on Christmas Eve in Hartberg (Styria), 14.1 degrees on Christmas Day in Fraxern (Vorarlberg) and 16.3 degrees on St. Stephen's Day in Micheldorf (Upper Austria). . The Christmas thaw ended up leading to an even warmer turn of the year.
White almost every year in the 1960s
White Christmases were therefore not a given in the lowlands, even before the onset of climate change. In Graz, from 1900 to 1915 inclusive, there were six white Christmases and ten green Christmases. In Vienna, in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, it snowed at Christmas every three years.
Today's grandparents' generation, on the other hand, experienced many snowy Christmases during their childhood. There were particularly cold winters in the 1960s; the average December was three to four degrees colder than the most recent December. From 1961 to 1965, Christmas in Austria was white almost every year.
Wide snow guarantee in the mountains
Above an altitude of around 1,200 meters you can still expect a white Christmas with great certainty. Schröcken (Vorarlberg), Galtür and St. Jakob in Defereggen (both Tyrol) have a snow probability at Christmas of 90% or more. Last year, even Schröcken had no snow.
The place holds a special record for snowfall. In 1981, on Christmas Eve there was 2.2 meters, and on St. Stephen's Day the snow cover increased to 2.5 meters. At that time there were also more than one meter in Schoppernau (Vorarlberg), Abtenau (Salzburg), Pertisau (Tirol) and Kollerschlag (Upper Austria).
State capital records
Christmas 1981 also occurred in the depths of winter in Vienna. After 20 centimeters on Christmas Eve, the snow depth reached 39 centimeters on St. Stephen's Day. The only time in the long series of measurements for the federal capital was an equally thick blanket of snow in 1969. The records for St. Pölten with 50 centimeters and Eisenstadt with 39 centimeters come from this year.
In 1962 there were 65 centimeters in Innsbruck and 35 centimeters in Salzburg.
It snowed extremely in southern Austria on Christmas 1994. Graz and Klagenfurt were covered by almost half a meter of snow on Christmas Eve. Linz is the only state capital whose snowfall record was set after the turn of the millennium: in 2001, there were 23 centimeters in Linz on Christmas Day.