On Wednesday, a cold front from the west is reaching Austria, and expected to spread on Thursday, bringing heavy rains and snow, according to UBIMET weather experts.

On the mountains, more significant amounts of new snow will accumulate once again. The rains will gradually decrease at the weekend, but temperatures are still cold for mid-April. 

From the middle of the night to Thursday, rain and snowfall will spread to large parts of the country, from Vorarlberg over the Salzburg region to the Mühlviertel and later also from East Tyrol to Lower Carinthia it will rain or snow, sometimes heavily. 

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The snow line will gradually drop to about 800 to 1000 m, so a few centimetres of fresh snow can be expected in the central and western mountainous areas.

On Thursday, there will be frequent heavy rain, especially in the south, with the snow line fluctuating between 700 and 1000 metres. Therefore, large amounts of fresh snow is expected, especially in the central and southern mountainous regions.

From Vorarlberg to Upper Austria, the rain will decrease during the day, but the sun will appear at most in the far west for a short time. The wind north of the Alps will be moderate to brisk from westerly directions.

On Friday, heavy rain from Salzburg across the Mostviertel eastward, especially in the Waldviertel and Weinviertel. The snow line will rise to about 900 metres. In the west and south, some precipitation will fall at first, but it will dry up during the day with a few sunny intervals, most likely in the Rhine and Inn valleys. 

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Austria’s meteorologic institute ZAMG also warns of the rain and snow arriving as early as Thursday and winter conditions continuing over the weekend. 

Winter tyres

Until Saturday, April 15th, people in Austria driving their cars need to have fitted winter tyres (or proper equipment) if they are driving in “winter conditions”. That includes snow or ice water. 

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Since the weather over winter had been relatively mild, with less snow, many decided to change their tyres for summer ones before mid-April, but that could be risky depending on the situation, especially near the Alps, where fresh snow is expected for the coming days. 

You can read more about winter and summer tyre regulations HERE.