Meteorologists say

The fog should be over for once

Fog also has its charms, but Upper Austrians living in the Danube region who are weaned on sunlight can now happily do without it.

(Bild: Siegfried Möstl)

The grueling continuous fog in the lowlands should finally be over in the coming days. Metrologists are promising a change in the weather as well as a few snowflakes, but the majority of Upper Austria is unlikely to see anything more than "sugar". 

On New Year's Day, the meteorological "two-tier society" continued once again in Upper Austria. While the "upper classes" in the Mühlviertel were able to enjoy the full sun in the morning, the Danube region was mainly covered in fog until the afternoon. For example, at 12.30 pm it was 7 degrees plus in Zwettl an der Rodl, but minus 1 degree in Linz. This effect, known as an inversion, had driven the inhabitants of the Linz "lowlands" into an autumn depression, especially in November.

High is moving away
Today, Thursday, the previous high pressure area is saying goodbye and instead a cold front is moving in to clear out the fog. It's even supposed to snow in the evening hours, the whole country will be covered in snow, promises meteorologist Nikolas Zimmermann from UBIMET: "On Saturday we'll get a so-called 'masked cold front', so it will even be a few degrees milder in Linz than up in the Mühlviertel." From today's perspective, the coming week is set to be quite unsettled.

Warmest year in recorded history
While the capricious weather doesn't matter much to the average consumer, things look very different in agriculture. 2024 was by far the warmest year since measurements began, and the total damage caused by extreme weather events amounted to 260 million euros nationwide, according to hail insurance. CG