Rain will move to the northwest as early as Tuesday. On Wednesday the rain will spread further over the west and then shift south. The changeable April weather is accompanied by wind: at higher altitudes in the low mountain ranges, squalls are even possible.

Snow line drops this week

Polar cold air flows in on the back of the first rain front. With it the snow line begins to drop: In the low mountain ranges it falls to around 800 to 600 meters on Thursday night. At the edge of the Alps it can even drop to 400 meters.

Snowfall and winter slippery conditions in the south

5 to 15 centimeters of fresh snow are possible again. In the mountains and in the very south, 2 to 5 centimeters of this may still remain on Thursday morning. This results in slippery roads from the Alps to Nuremberg.

The snow there will thaw again over the course of Thursday. The situation is different in the Alps: 20 to 30 centimeters of fresh snow is possible here – in high altitudes even up to 40 centimeters. On Friday morning you can also expect freezing wetness and winter slippery conditions in some places.

Is there a risk of “5b weather conditions” at the weekend?

There could be a lot of snow again at the weekend. There is a risk of a so-called “5b- Weather conditions“. A low pressure area is coming from the south around the Alps. This can lead to large amounts of precipitation.

In this case, the models indicate up to 15 centimeters of fresh snow. In Austria even 50 centimeters would be possible.

But this situation is not safe. It is also possible that the depression will not move over the Alps, but towards the Balkans. And then it would snow again heavily from Croatia to Greece.