Innsbruck has the best chance of snow
In Austria, it has warmed up by an average of 1 to 2.5 degrees over the Christmas holidays over the past few centuries. According to the ZAMG, this reduced the chance of a white Christmas in the lower elevations by 30 to 60 percent. In the lowlands, the temperature at Christmas is more and more often above 0 degrees. As a result, precipitation falls more quickly than rain, or fallen snow melts faster.
Trend towards milder temperatures permanently clearly recognizable
Global warming is also having a significant effect on the Christmas weather in Austria, says Alexander Orlik from ZAMG. “Of course there are large fluctuations from year to year, but in the long term the trend towards ever milder temperatures at Christmas is clearly recognizable.”
“If you compare, for example, the average temperature on December 24th, 25th and 26th in the period 1961 to 1990 with the period 1991 to 2020, then, for example, in the provincial capitals of Austria there is a warming of around one to two and a half degrees,” says Orlik.
Usually only white every three to six years
The chance of a white Christmas has decreased by 30 percent in Innsbruck, Salzburg and Graz in the last few centuries, by 40 percent in Bregenz, Linz and Klagenfurt, by 50 percent in St. Pölten and Vienna and by as much as 60 percent in Eisenstadt, the reported climatologist.
Statistically speaking, in Vienna, Eisenstadt, St. Pölten and Linz there is only a solid snow cover of at least one centimeter in height every four years at Christmas. Bregenz, Graz and Klagenfurt are white on average every third year. The best chances are in Innsbruck and Salzburg, where statistically, Christmas is white every two to three years.
Almost a meter of snow in Innsbruck in 1962
The weather station Innsbruck Airport holds the Christmas record of all provincial capitals with 96 centimeters of snow in 1962.
The other snow records in the provincial capitals for Christmas are: 55 cm at Graz Airport in 1994, 50 cm in St. Pölten in 1969, 47 cm in Klagenfurt in 1994, 40 cm in Salzburg in 1962, 39 cm in Eisenstadt in the year 1969, 47 cm in Vienna Mariabrunn in 1969, 26 cm in Bregenz in 1969 and in Linz (airport) the record snow depth was 25 cm in 1969.
Record from almost -30 degrees to almost +20 degrees
The cold records are also far behind. In the Austria-wide evaluation of all ZAMG weather stations below 1400 meters above sea level, the cold record is -29.0 degrees in Tamsweg in Salzburg on the night of December 26, 1944. Extreme war also in 1962. At that time, the maximum temperature on December 25 in Vils (Reutte district) was -19.8 °C. In Kitzbühel it was -27.9 °C in the night from December 24 to 25, 1962.
The Salzburg Airport weather station held the Christmas heat record for the whole of Austria with 19.1 °C on December 25, 2013.
Precise prognosis for this year is still difficult
An exact forecast for the weather and snow conditions for this year’s Christmas season is not yet possible, explained the ZAMG. For the middle of next week, a very mild weather situation is currently emerging, with plus degrees even on many mountains. According to the current forecast, a cold front could bring significantly colder air to Austria shortly before the Christmas holidays