KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Last week, it was the wind.
This week, we’ll see some snow. Winter may have finally arrived.
Snow is forecast to fall Tuesday and Wednesday in southern Germany. Stuttgart may see a couple of inches; Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels could experience 2 inches; Katterbach and Ansbach are expected to see about 3 inches; and Garmisch is expected to get between 6 and 8 inches through midday Wednesday, said Capt. Matthew Hauke, operations floor supervisor with the 21st Operational Weather Squadron.
The weather system will be a “nonevent” for places farther north such as Ramstein, Baumholder and Spangdahlem, Hauke said.
The Kaiserslautern military community could see a few flakes — less than one-half inch — through Wednesday but nothing accumulating on the ground, Hauke said.
“The snow line is going to be to our south,” said Hauke in Sembach, Germany, which is in the Kaiserslautern area. “The majority of the snow is going to be over the mountains and Garmisch.”
In higher elevations, the storm will dump 1 to 2 feet of snow, Hauke said.
This winter has been unusually warm, and this week’s system will mark the first snow of the season in many places.
Across the Alps, ski resorts have suffered from a lack of snow this season.
Ski race organizers in Kitzbühel, Austria, used helicopters last week to dump snow from higher elevations onto the famed downhill course to save a race from cancellation, according to The Washington Post.
The snow will be a much-needed relief for the ski slopes around Garmisch, said Brad Hays, marketing manager for Edelweiss Lodge and Resort.
While skiing conditions have been good on the nearby Zugspitze, lower slopes have suffered from higher-than-normal temperatures and lack of snow.
If people are looking to get some skiing in, Edelweiss does have rooms available on select dates, Hays said.
South of the Alps, snow is not in the forecast for Aviano through Friday.
Vicenza, however, is expected to get some snow Wednesday, according to the weather squadron Web site.
In the United Kingdom, Lakenheath and Mildenhall are not forecast to receive any snow through Friday, according to the weather squadron Web site, ows.public.sembach.af.mil/.
But cold temperatures are coming to the Kaiserslautern area in Germany.
From Wednesday to Friday, high temperatures there are not expected to get above freezing, Hauke said.
“We’re looking at least in the next couple weeks for highs in upper 20s and mid-30s, and lows in lower to mid-20s,” he said.
