This is a record since snow measurements began in 1938. The measuring point at the observatory has never shown zero centimeters so early in the year, as Alexander Orlik from the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) confirmed to the APA on Wednesday, current reports from the ORF and the Kronenzeitung. Climate change is causing the glaciers in Austria to disappear rapidly.
Ö3 meteorologist Daniel Schrott drew attention to this on Twitter:
The snow measuring point is slightly below the summit of the Sonnblick in the Hohe Tauern. “The earliest eruption so far was on August 13, 2003,” Orlik said in an APA interview. The measuring point also showed zero centimetres. On average, this place is not snow-free until the end of August or the beginning of September, as the climatologist described. “What we have now has never been there before.”
The summit area opened up more than a month earlier this year than before. Orlik identified several key factors behind the snow meltdown in early July. March was “extremely low in precipitation”, usually two and a half meters of fresh snow fall, “this time it was only seven centimeters”. In addition, January also brought little precipitation and was therefore not particularly snowy, and May and June were very warm. This combination increased the melting rate.
Other measuring points at these altitudes would also document the lack of snow on the glaciers. “If there isn’t a significant blanket of snow on the dark glacial ice soon, the glacial retreat will be severe. The solar radiation will accelerate the melting force,” said the climatologist.
In the past ten years in particular, there has been a rapid rise in temperature in summer. If you compare the mean temperature from the early 1960s with the past ten years, according to Orlik, it has gotten around 2.5 degrees warmer.
Temperatures have been measured at the Sonnblick Observatory since 1886. This data would prove that it has been milder for a long time, said meteorologist Elke Ludewig, head of the station, to the ORF. “We see that since the 1960s and 1980s to the present day we have already had an average temperature increase of two degrees overall over the years.” The researcher Marion Greilinger, who works on the Sonnblick, said it had never looked like this year at this time of the year.
According to preliminary figures, a glacier rupture on the Marmolada in the Italian Dolomites, which triggered an ice avalanche, claimed seven lives last weekend, eight people were injured and another five are still missing. Glacier researchers and mountain guides warn that high-altitude tours are also associated with higher risks on Austria’s glaciers. New sources of danger and natural phenomena that have never existed before must now be incorporated into every tour planning.
Source: Nachrichten
