Fog, fog, fog

Only a weather miracle can save the start of the season

The Zwieselalm towered above the sea of fog on Monday - tomorrow there will be fog below and thick clouds above.

(Bild: zVg)

The November weather in Upper Austria remains depressing - apart from the peaks above the fog. One place has only had five hours of sunshine. Tourism experts are already peering anxiously at the calendar, as the start of the winter season has been entered, but there is no snow in sight.

"Snow cannons - fire at will!" - On the Hochficht, artificial snowmaking was successfully tested on Monday below the fog line near the middle station, where it was still zero degrees at midday, while the sun was shining at 6 degrees at the summit.

September snow long gone
The lifts here and on the Wurzeralm are due to open regularly on December 7. The season on Kasberg and Dachstein-West is due to open the day before, and in Hinterstoder on November 30th. There is nothing left of the September winter with up to 50 centimetres of snow, and neither Josef Haslhofer from GeoSphere Austria nor his meteorologist colleague Konstantin Brandes from Ubimet have any significant snowfall on the weather charts.

Fog without end
But fog without end. "There were only five hours of sunshine in Kremsmünster in November this year, seven in Micheldorf and eight in Wels," says Brandes, looking at the statistics. He doesn't dare to promise whether the average 30 hours of sunshine for November will be reached in Wels. But up on the Feuerkogel there were already 85 hours of sunshine by Monday.

It's going to get worse
It will continue in this vein and even get worse when clouds spread over the fog on Wednesday. They will bring a little rain - and above 700 meters above sea level a few snowflakes. Only on Saturday should it clear up and the sun come through. "According to the current models, next week will be foehn-like, which means there's a better chance of sunshine. But it could look different again tomorrow. There's no real momentum to clear the fog at the moment," says Haslhofer.

There is currently no westerly flow. That would be the Christmas thaw that cleans everything out and away. Whether snow will come before then is completely open.

Josef Haslhofer, Meteorologe bei GeoSphere Austria

"Crisis years help the tourism industry"
So it would take a small weather miracle for the season to get off to a good start on the mountains in the winter wonderland postcard idyll. After all, temperatures are unlikely to fall below zero for at least the next nine days. A cold snap is in the long-term forecasts for the last weekend in November, but nobody is betting on whether it will come. However, tourism experts are confident. "After we were able to slightly improve on last year's record this summer, we are also hoping for winter. Last season was the best in Upper Austria's history to date," says Markus Achleitner, Provincial Councillor for Economic Affairs. He believes that crisis years are not so bad for the leisure business: "People treat themselves to something, want to switch off from the negative for once."

Up to 66.90 euros per day on the slopes
To switch off on the slopes in Upper Austria, adults have to pay up to just under 66.90 euros for day tickets - prices are often dynamic and depend on the weather, capacity utilization and advance bookings.