White Christmas as a Test of Patience for Vienna

In many low-lying areas of Austria, there has already been a very long phase of green Christmases. In 2010 - 15 years ago - there was snow on December 24th in the majority of state capitals, namely in Bregenz, Salzburg, Linz, Vienna, Graz, and Klagenfurt. This is shown by an analysis from Geosphere Austria on Thursday. Due to climate change, snow at Christmas in the low-lying areas of Austria has become increasingly rare, especially since the 1960s.

"Of course, there are large fluctuations from year to year, but in the long term, an average December in Austria has become about two degrees warmer over the last 50 years," explained climatologist Alexander Orlik in a Geosphere release. "In the low-lying areas, there is therefore less and less snow at Christmas. Because instead of snowflakes, there are now more often raindrops in December, and fallen snow melts away faster than before."

Vienna 2012 with Snow on December 24th

"White Christmases in Austria are reasonably reliable from about 800 meters above sea level. It has also become milder here in recent decades, but it is still often cold enough for snowfall," reported Orlik. For example, in Schoppernau in Vorarlberg at 839 meters above sea level, there has been snow on December 24th almost every year since 1950. Only in the years 1985, 2002, 2014, 2016, and 2022 did Schoppernau experience green Christmases.

Since 2010, it has only rarely been white on December 24th in the state capitals, such as in 2011 in Innsbruck and Salzburg, 2012 in Vienna and Eisenstadt, 2017 in Innsbruck, 2021 in Klagenfurt, and 2024 in Bregenz, Innsbruck, and Klagenfurt. A snow cover is defined as at least one centimeter of snow depth at more than 50 percent of the observation site at 7:00 a.m.

47 Centimeters of Snow on December 24th

Those looking for Christmas snow records in the state capitals must go far back in the data series, explained Geosphere. On December 24th, 1962, there were 96 centimeters of snow at the Innsbruck Airport weather station. It was 55 centimeters at Graz Airport on December 25th, 1994, 50 centimeters in St. Pölten on December 24th, 1969, 47 centimeters in Klagenfurt on December 24th, 1994, 35 centimeters in Salzburg on December 24th, 1962, 39 centimeters in Eisenstadt on Christmas Day 1969, 47 centimeters in Vienna Mariabrunn on December 24th, 1969, 26 centimeters in Bregenz on December 26th, 1981, and in Linz (Airport) the record snow depth is 25 centimeters on Christmas Day 1969.

The cold records also date far back. In the nationwide evaluation of all weather stations of Geosphere Austria below 1,400 meters above sea level, the cold record is minus 29.0 degrees in Tamsweg in Salzburg on the night of December 26th, 1944. 1962 was also extreme. At that time, the maximum temperature on December 25th in Vils in Tyrol was minus 19.8 degrees. In Kitzbühel, it was minus 27.9 degrees on the night of December 25th, 1962. The Christmas warmth record for all of Austria is held by the Salzburg Airport weather station with 19.1 degrees on December 25th, 2013.

For this year's Christmas holidays, no meaningful weather forecasts are possible yet, emphasized Geosphere. In any case, no significant new snow amounts are expected until the beginning of next week. Additionally, the coming days will bring very mild weather, with temperatures above freezing even in the high mountains.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.