Nearly a month after Sunset, its much darker at the #southpole, but you can still see a little twilight on the horizon with a medium exposure on an #iphone. Here is a pic from winterover Michel towards the Dark Sector on the walk out to SPT. #Antarctica @NSF @doescience
A pleasant Monday in Switzerland with cumulus clouds along the Prealps (north+south) and near the snow line inner-alpine.
Snow below ~1,500 m has mostly melted; higher areas still have snow, though below average:
iconic Säntis has 371 cm (measurement below the summit)
vs. record 816 cm in 1999!
Absolutely fantastic explainer on the quasi-geostrophic omega equation (and related aspects of atmospheric dynamics) from @roostweather.bsky.social 👏 www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmZi...
Another small but impressive cold-core low over the southern Mediterranean, near the Libya–Egypt border, is causing a severe sandstorm in Egypt (Cairo airport visibility below 500 m) as well as thunderstorms, detected by the MTG Lightning Imager.
Tuapse oil refinery
In Central Europe, snow now remains only at higher elevations, while Lapland and Iceland are still heavily snow-covered.
In the Alps, current snow cover is below average.
In the long-term average (ERA5), mid-March is the driest period of the year in whole Europe.
By April, precipitation would normally increase.
However, the first half of April 2026 has been too dry across large parts of Europe (according to JMA).
Something large appears to be burning along the Russian Black Sea coast (Tuapse), with activity starting at around 00:10 UTC.
Terra-MODIS via worldview.earthdata
Map of Alaska showing the percent of routine (twice a day) upper air available January 1 through April 14, 2026. Data from the University of Wyoming Atmospheric Science Radiosonde Archive.
Alaska & Yukon Territory upper air observation availability so far in 2026. Continued lots of missing data in western Alaska (combo of staffing, hardware & comms issues). Not just an Alaska problem: lack of obs impact weather & climate reanalysis models globally. #akwx #weather @wxmanms1.bsky.social
Fascinating: March 2026 was one of the warmest months in the USA, while at the same time one of the coldest in Canada!
The anomalies closely followed national borders and even the somewhat arbitrary division of calendar months. 🤔
The April, widely regarded as notoriously changeable and fickle in its weather, began in Central Europe much drier than usual, too warm in the west, and slightly too cold in the east. According to the ECMWF sub-seasonal forecast, similar conditions are expected to continue next week.
We now have 13 different models with 637 different ensemble members with El Niño forecasts out through at least September 2026.
They suggest a best estimate of 2.2C for September; interestingly ECMWF (which was seen as particularly hot when it came out) is right around the middle of the pack:
A weak cold front brings cloud and rain to eastern Switzerland and southern Germany, while first plume of Saharan dust reaches the Balearics (Valencia ceilometer in 3–4 km altitude).
More dust from Algeria spreads over the western Mediterranean on Saturday, only brushing the Alps.
Arctic sea ice reached its annual maximum extent in mid-March, once again at a very low level, comparable to 2025.
Although areas around the North Pole are already experiencing 24-hour daylight, temperatures are still very low: at a Snow Buoy (AWI) at 89.12°N, it is still around -26°C!
Clear and often sunny weather in the Alps, according to the Terra-MODIS satellite.
Locally, more than 12 hours of sunshine is possible today, with highs ranging from just 15°C in northern Austria to 26°C in northern Italy and southern Switzerland.
About 2-weeks after #sunset at the South Pole, our winter overs Michel and Anjali are getting some great views of the darkening skies. Here SPT and DSL are being backlight by a nearly full moon. #Antarctica @NSF @doescience
Still some low cloud along eastern Prealps, otherwise Easter Monday often sunny across Switzerland.
With north-easterly wind, northern and eastern parts of the country are 2 to 6°C cooler than yesterday.
Snow cover (shown in blue) has melted significantly over the holidays: decreasing by 10 to 40 cm
Easter Sunday brought the northern side of the Alps its highest temperatures of the year so far:
In Switzerland readings ranged from +3°C (Gornergrat, 3,130m) to 25.0°C (Sion).
Now, the first local showers and thunderstorms are following, moving east-southeast at 50–60 km/h.
March 2026 globally fourth warmest, but second warmest in Europe since 1940!
Credit to @climatologist49.bsky.social
A sunny Good Friday in Switzerland, with still a lot of snow (coloured blue) above ~800 m amsl —especially in the northern Prealps, though not record amounts.
Also across the entire Alpine region, there is currently more snow cover than usual.
This is a great website to see where #ARTEMIS2 currently is!
artemistracker.com
ICYMI, there were some pretty cool satellite signatures of the Artemis II launch yesterday: cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-bl...
Saharan dust over the Canaries has been drawn into the circulation of an unremarkable low southwest of the islands. Thunderstorms (LI flash areas), fueled by unstable tropical air, remain confined to dust-free zones ahead of the low.
Significant quantities of dust still over Canary Islands from recent haboob event.
Meanwhile, with the development of storm Erminio over Sicily, a severe sandstorm is currently affecting Crete, featuring gusts exceeding 100 km/h from the south.
Significant quantities of dust still over Canary Islands, following the recent haboob event. Meanwhile, with the development of Storm Erminio over Sicily, a severe sandstorm is currently affecting Crete, featuring gusts exceeding 100 km/h from the south.
The massive sandstorm (haboob), shown as an animation of the past 24 hours from the specially designated MTG Dust RGB channel, including LI accumulated flash area.
The massive dust storm (haboob) as seen by Eumetsat MTG using the specially designed Dust RGB channel – 24-hour animation...incl. LI Accumulated Flash Area
Massive sandstorm in Northwest Africa: A cold front from the north with gusts >70 km/h triggers a wide sandstorm front between southern Morocco and Mali.
MTG3↙️, NOAA21 ↘️
March 2026 ends too warm in central/eastern Europe.
Swiss anomalies: +0.1°C (Grand St Bernard, 2,475m) to +1.5°C (Chur), referring to 1991–2020.
Cold snaps after mid-month cooled above all the mountains.
Die Hormuz-Krise trifft die Weltwirtschaft in 3 Wellen:
Erste Welle: Preisschock, Kerosin, Naphtha
Zweite Welle: Helium, Dünger, Aluminium
Dritte Welle: Halbleiter, Lebensmittel, Industrie
Präzise Riskoanalyse von Marco Felsberger @resilienceengineer.bsky.social
www.risknet.de/themen/riskn...
