Improvement in sight

Blue on top, gray below – fog has the country in its grip

The fog rises during the day, but recently the blanket has remained thick.

(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

It hasn't been this bad for a long time: a thick blanket of fog has shrouded large parts of Salzburg for days. A change is in sight, but not guaranteed.

The damp and cold autumn weather has blanketed the country. Fog and temperatures in the low single digits are not uncommon. However, the veil of gray over the northern parts of the country has not been this thick for a long time. The gray layer over the valley floor north of Pass Lueg has not lifted for a week. While the sky in the Innergebirg and on the mountains was often bright blue, the damp fog has the Alpine foothills in its grip.

A gray blanket hangs over the northern parts of the country - only the Gaisbergspitze stands out from the sea of fog

(Bild: Panomax/VereinGaisbergAktiv)

A gray blanket hangs over the northern parts of the country - only the Gaisbergspitze rises out of the sea of fog

(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

The fog still remains and colors the sky gray
"Heavy, cold air lies in the lowlands and, because there is little wind, does not get away," says Michael Butschek from Geosphere Austria. That's why the sky over the city of Salzburg, for example, remained overcast for days. On the Gaisberg, on the other hand, the peak rose out of the clouds and the sun shone from the sky. In this so-called inversion weather, it is also warmer at high altitudes than in the valley. The cold doesn't make it up through the fog.

This is typical autumn weather. The fog is just particularly thick this year.

Michael Butschek, Geosphere Austria

Bild: heikomandl.at

However, the meteorologist does not foresee any change in the coming days. "There will be a little movement in the night today. But the fog should stick around," says Butschek. The disturbance will even bring the first snowflakes, but is actually too small to completely displace the fog. A change in the weather is not expected to dispel the fog until next week. "The weather situation will change with a north-westerly flow," says the Salzburg head of Geosphere Austria. The fog should then be history for the time being and the sun should be smiling from the sky again.

While in Graz, for example, the fine dust reporting limit was exceeded several times due to the gray fog cover, experts for Salzburg are reassuring. All measuring points in the province show absolutely harmless values.