Industrial Snow at the Turn of the Year in Vienna

The weather lexicon of the former Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG), now known as Geosphere, explains the formation of this phenomenon and refers to it as "anthropogenic snowfall". A key condition is the presence of high fog and the dominance of an inversion layer. The latter are weather situations in which fine dust accumulates in the then colder, near-ground air layers.

Differences Between Industrial Snow and Conventional Snow

"Industrial snow" as precipitation is then created according to the weather lexicon "by emissions of water vapour and condensation nuclei from large industrial plants, heating power plants or domestic fires, which freeze in the high fog layer, partly also resublimate (direct transition from water vapour to ice crystals)". These snowfalls occur locally limited in urban agglomerations - and they are also more difficult to predict than conventional snow.

The presence of "large" industrial plants in areas with high fog in the winter months is given in Austria in the Vienna and Graz basins, but also in the Mur-Mürz Furche in Styria as well as in the Klagenfurt basin in the south and the western Danube valley in Upper Austria. "These industrial plants provide in a 24-hour operation over seven days a week the additional moisture and aerosol supply, which ultimately increases the probability of occurrence of industrial snow", say the experts. However, domestic fires should not be underestimated, although they have been declining in recent years for environmental reasons.

Industrial snow also differs from conventional snow, often it is ice crystals instead of snowflakes due to the lower fall height according to the weather lexicon - it is therefore often also referred to as snow dust or glittering snowfall. It also adheres more easily to surfaces, which can lead to slippery roads. And due to its formation with the help of industrial plants, it is also more heavily contaminated with pollutants than "normal" snow.

(APA/Red)

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