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Wet and stormy weather outlook for Easter

Summertime may have officially begun but the weather outlook for Austria over the Easter week is wet and stormy, with a storm warning in effect on Tuesday from Vorarlberg to Lower Austria.

Published: 31 March 2015 13:05 CEST
Wet and stormy weather outlook for Easter
Photo: Marius Becker/DPA

The Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) has issued storm warnings north of the Alps, with gusts of 90 to 120 km/h forecast for Upper Austria, the west of Lower Austria and the Flachgau region on Tuesday. 

Rain, snow and colder temperatures are forecast for the week ahead, with the snow line falling to around 1,000 meters above sea level.

Only the south of the country will have slightly warmer and drier conditions.

As an Atlantic weather front blows in many parts of the country will feel more wintry than springlike over the Easter break. 

Temperatures will range between minus one and five degrees in the morning, rising to between three and 12 degrees in the afternoon.

The strong winds will continue into Thursday, with rain forecast for Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday – with some sunny spells in the east and south.

The weather conditions could prove dangerous in the mountains, with experts in Tyrol and Salzburg warning skiers and snowboarders to be wary of disturbing fresh snow drifts on steep slopes which could easily trigger avalanches.

Many ski resorts will be operating a limited lift service due to the strong winds.

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WEATHER

IN PICTURES: ‘Exceptional’ Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

An "exceptional" dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent's climate monitor said on Monday, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime.

Published: 8 April 2024 14:15 CEST
IN PICTURES: 'Exceptional' Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said the latest plume, the third of its kind in recent weeks, was bringing hazy conditions to southern Europe and would sweep northward as far as Scandinavia.

Mark Parrington, senior scientist at Copernicus, said the latest event was related to a weather pattern that has brought warmer weather to parts of Europe in recent days.

“While it is not unusual for Saharan dust plumes to reach Europe, there has been an increase in the intensity and frequency of such episodes in recent years, which could be potentially attributed to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns,” he said.

This latest episode has caused air quality to deteriorate in several countries, Copernicus said.

The European Union’s safe threshold for concentrations of PM10 — coarser particles like sand and dust that that can irritate the nose and throat — has already been exceeded in some locations.

A picture taken on April 8, 2024 shows a rapeseed field under thick sand dust blown in from the Sahara, giving the sky a yellowish appearance near Daillens, western Switzerland. – An “exceptional” dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent’s climate monitor said, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

The worst affected was the Iberian Peninsula in Spain but lesser air pollution spikes were also recorded in parts of Switzerland, France and Germany.

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Local authorities in southeastern and southern France announced that the air pollution threshold was breached on Saturday.

They advised residents to avoid intense physical activity, particularly those with heart or respiratory problems.

The dust outbreak was expected to reach Sweden, Finland and northwest Russia before ending on Tuesday with a shift in weather patterns, Copernicus said.

The Sahara emits between 60 and 200 million tonnes of fine dust every year, which can travel thousands of kilometres (miles), carried by winds and certain meteorological conditions.

The Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa saw just 12 days within a 90-day period from December to February where skies were free of Saharan dust, the local weather agency Aemet had reported.

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