Winter arrives early in Austria by Steph Ball
The weekend has seen a record early onset of severe weather across large parts of Austria.
A storm generated by low pressure across southeast Europe, moved across Austria bringing heavy snow falls and strong winds. Langem am Arlberg had 112cm (44inches) of snow over 48hrs with winds reported to have peaked over 100mph (160km/h) here. Some areas suffered serious damage. The Tirol area of Austria measured 40cm (15.75inches) of new snow while Salzburg had up to 70cm (28inches); however there were reports of up to 150cm (59inches) in places.
The onset of severe weather prompted the closure of roads, some blocked, but others closed as a precaution due to the risk of avalanche. Austria's avalanche warning system raised the alarm to the second- highest possible. One of the roads closed gives access to the elite ski resorts of Lech and Zurs in Arlberg. The previous time that Lech was cut off so early in the winter was 1974.
Meteorologists over the weekend described the weather as being the kind of conditions only experienced in the Alps every 30 to 50 years. This comes on the back of the 2006 season when ski resorts were sent into a panic over a lack of snow and climatologists announced the Alps to be at their warmest for 1,300 years.
The winter weather is expected to last for the rest of the week.
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