Could the lack of snow signal drought in 2023?

Waiting for snow: view from the Seehorn towards Klosters on 2 January 2023. Photo: Jonas Götte, SLF The snowfall level is rising, and the amount of snow falling - if any - is less than usual. As a result, summer and autumn droughts are becoming more frequent. With many ski resorts and toboggan runs closed and horse-drawn carriages using wheels instead of runners, the 2022/23 winter season has got off to a slow start. For weeks, snowfall and snow depths in many areas have fallen short of expectations and below the long-term averages. If the snow situation continues like this throughout the winter, drought could become a problem again this summer, warns Manuela Brunner, head of the new Hydrology & Climate Impacts in Mountain Regions research group at the SLF: "Today's snow deficit is next summer and autumn's drought." That would be the second time in a row after the low-snow winter of 2021/22. Dry conditions in summer and autumn cause problems for a range of plants, from grasses and shrubs through to trees.