South Tyrol weather – everything at a glance

Indian summer

A regional Central European climate pattern featuring a stable spell of high pressure in early autumn, usually between mid-September and early October.

April weather

A highly changeable spell with rapid alternation between thunderstorms, sunshine, wind and precipitation.

Atmosphere

The gaseous envelope around a celestial body. Earth’s atmosphere is divided into the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere and consists mainly of nitrogen and oxygen.

Weather lore

Rules developed over centuries from farmers’ observations. They cannot provide exact forecasts, but can sometimes indicate broader tendencies.

Lightning

An electrical discharge between opposite charges in the atmosphere—between clouds, within one cloud or between a cloud and the ground.

Blizzard

A severe North American snowstorm accompanied by a sharp drop in temperature.

Bora

A cold, dry downslope wind along the coasts of Istria and Dalmatia, particularly strong in winter.

Gust

A brief, sudden increase in wind speed, often accompanied by a change in direction.

Breeze

A wind of moderate strength.

Thunder

The sound produced by lightning. Rapid heating causes the surrounding air to expand explosively, creating the characteristic bang.

Haze

Reduced visibility caused by condensed water or suspended particles, with visibility between one and eight kilometres.

Ice

Black ice

Freezing rain

Ice fog

Glaze ice

El Niño

A natural anomaly in Pacific currents that occurs every two to eight years. Warmer surface water off Peru affects weather across much of the world; the opposite phase is called La Niña.

Particulate matter

Airborne particles small enough to enter the lungs. Levels are measured using PM standards and often rise during winter weather conditions.

Foehn

A warm, dry downslope wind on the leeward side of a mountain range, accompanied by rising temperatures and clearing cloud.

Frost

Frost occurs when the temperature falls below water’s freezing point of 0 °C.

Thunderstorm

Electrical and acoustic discharges in unstable air. Rain, graupel, hail, snow and strong gusts may accompany thunderstorms.

Graupel

Solid, usually rounded precipitation one to five millimetres in diameter, formed from frozen snow or rain.

Hail

Rapidly growing solid precipitation formed in thunderclouds by powerful updraughts. Hailstones can grow from a few millimetres to several centimetres.

High

High pressure

High-pressure area

Hurricane

A tropical cyclone with winds of at least 118 km/h in the North Atlantic or north-eastern Pacific. The main season runs from June to November.

Cold front

The boundary of an advancing cold air mass that pushes beneath warmer air, often producing convective cloud, showers and thunderstorms.

Clear ice

A smooth, transparent and firmly adhering ice deposit formed as fog freezes slowly at temperatures between 0 and −3 °C.

Climate

The range of weather conditions possible in an area over a representative period of at least 30 years, including their sequence and variability.

Climate zones

Large regions of the Earth with similar climatic characteristics.

• Tropical zone
• Subtropical zone
• Temperate zone
• Subpolar zone
• Polar zone
• Climate change
• Air pressure
• Humidity
• Air temperature

Mistral

A cold, gusty downslope wind in the Rhône valley, associated with pressure differences between the Azores and Gulf of Genoa; it can reach 135 km/h.

Lunar eclipse

When the Sun, Earth and full Moon align, Earth’s shadow darkens the Moon either completely or partially.

Fog

Condensed water vapour that reduces visibility to less than one kilometre.

• Ground fog
• Ice fog
• High fog
• Coastal fog
• Sea fog
• Valley fog
• Meadow fog

Ora

A local southerly valley wind in the Adige Valley that strengthens during the day because mountains and plains heat at different rates.

Hurricane-force wind

An extremely strong wind averaging at least 118 km/h over land for ten minutes or more.

Ozone

Hard rime

A granular, firmly adhering ice deposit formed when fog freezes rapidly in strong winds at temperatures between −2 and −10 °C.

Hoar frost

A thin, lightly adhering frost deposit formed in high humidity, light winds and temperatures around −8 °C.

Rain

• Persistent rain
• Freezing rain
• Glaze-producing rain
• Steady rain
• Drizzle
• Downpour
• Shower
• Sleet
• Fine rain
• Heavy rain

Rainbow

An arc of spectral colours produced as sunlight is reflected and refracted by raindrops.

Rime

Snow

• Firn
• Polar snow
• Snow slab
• Snow damage
• Sleet
• Snowdrift

Mugginess

The oppressive combination of high temperature and high humidity. How it feels varies from person to person.

Sirocco

A hot southerly or south-easterly desert wind carrying Saharan air towards the Mediterranean.

Smog

Solar eclipse

When the Sun, Moon and Earth align, the Moon’s shadow falls on part of the Earth. Eclipses may be total, annular or partial.

Storm

• Sandstorm
• Snowstorm
• Storm surge
• Storm depression
• Cyclone

Dew

Typhoon

A tropical cyclone with hurricane-force winds in the north-western Pacific and neighbouring countries.

Low

Low pressure

Low-pressure area

Tornado

A rotating column of air in contact with the ground, caused by strong temperature contrasts and capable of winds of several hundred kilometres per hour.

Waterspout

A tornado over a body of water.

Warm front

The boundary of an approaching warm air mass. Warm air rising over colder air often creates extensive cloud and prolonged precipitation.

Weather

The state and phenomena of the near-surface atmosphere over a period ranging from a few hours to several weeks.

Weather divide

A geographical boundary separating different weather conditions. Mountains often form cloud on the windward side and clearing on the leeward side.

Wind

Air movement caused by pressure differences. Air generally flows from high to low pressure; strength is commonly described using the Beaufort scale.

Land tornado

A tornado over land.

Cyclonic storm

An air vortex with a vertical axis. Depending on origin and structure, it may be classified as a tropical cyclone, tornado or depression.

Weather pattern

The characteristic weather over several days up to roughly one week.

Clouds

• Cirrus clouds
• Cumulus clouds
• Heap clouds
• Mixed clouds
• Nimbostratus
• Convective clouds
• Layer clouds
• Veil clouds
• Stratus clouds
• Funnel clouds
• Water clouds

Southern Hemisphere cyclone

A clockwise-rotating tropical cyclone in the Southern Hemisphere, in the Indian Ocean or south-western Pacific.