Cold front reaches Austria
A cold front will bring stormy winds, heavy showers and snow on some mountain passes from Thursday onwards.
‘On Thursday, a cold front will move across Austria from west to east during the course of the day, bringing stormy winds and heavy rain. In addition, it will snow on some mountain passes for the first time this autumn,’ says Simon Hölzl, meteorologist at GeoSphere Austria. ‘The front will reach Vorarlberg in the early afternoon on Thursday and Vienna and Graz in the evening.’
As the cold front passes through, stormy gusts of wind between 60 and 80 km/h are expected across most of Austria on Thursday, with higher speeds in exposed areas. On many mountains, the west to north-westerly wind will reach speeds of over 100 km/h at times.
The cold front will also bring rain showers to Austria on Thursday. There may be heavy rain for some time, with isolated thunder and lightning. The heaviest rainfall is expected in southern Austria on Thursday, with around 30 to 50 litres per square metre, and possibly slightly more in the Carnic Alps and Karawanken regions.
The snow line will drop rapidly on Thursday with the cold front to around 1600 to 1400 metres above sea level, and then to around 1000 metres during the night on Friday. ‘This means that on Thursday and during the night leading into Friday, it will snow on many mountain passes for the first time this autumn,’ says meteorologist Simon Hölzl from GeoSphere Austria. ‘Snow or slush is to be expected on Thursday evening and during the night leading into Friday on passes such as the Timmelsjoch, Kühtaisattel, Hahntennjoch, Arlberg and Gerlos passes, and possibly also in the Felbertauern portal area.’
On Friday, the cold front will have passed, but Austria will remain in a strong westerly flow and, especially in the north and east as well as on many mountains, there will still be strong to stormy winds. Sun and clouds will alternate and, especially on the north side of the Alps, there will be intermittent rain and snow falling at altitudes between 1,100 and 1,600 metres above sea level.
The wind will be significantly weaker everywhere over the weekend. However, the weather will remain changeable with sunshine, clouds and isolated showers. Maximum temperatures on Saturday will be between 10 and 16 degrees, and between 7 and 14 degrees on Sunday.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)