!!!Klima

Climate: Austria's climate is predominantly temperate. In the Alps 
(with the exception of dry areas in the interior), in the Alpine 
foothill area and in the northwest (Muehlviertel region) it is 
influenced by the central European oceanic climate with humid winds, 
in the northeast, east and southeast (Waldviertel and Weinviertel 
regions, Vienna Basin, Burgenland, hills in eastern Styria, Klagenfurt 
Basin) by the pannonic and illyric continental climate, with scant 
precipitation, hot summers and cold winters, in the southernmost 
regions (Carinthia, East Tirol) by Mediterranean precipitation. The 
Alps form a barrier, which in the west is consistent with the central 
Alps, and in the east with the northern limestone Alps in winter, in 
summer with the ridge of the Niedere Tauern and the Eisenerzer Alpen 
mountain ranges. Precipitation decreases from the west to the east and 
usually increases with altitude ("Steigungsregen"/"ascending rain"). 
The areas with most precipitation (average annual mean precipitation 
2,000-2,500 mm and more) are those bordering mountain ranges (northern 
and southern limestone Alps) and the ridge of the Hohe Tauern 
mountains, the areas with least precipitation (annual average below 
600 mm) are the Seewinkel area in Burgenland, the northeast of the 
Vienna Basin and the Marchfeld region, as well as locally the 
Weinviertel and the central and northern Waldviertel regions, in 
particular the lower valley of the River Kamp. (300-400 mm). In 
January the highest amount of snow falls in the Alps below an altitude 
of 1,200 m, in higher regions most snow falls in March and April. The 
permanent snow line is at 2,700 m in the northern limestone Alps, at 
2,900 m in the Hohe Tauern mountains and 3,000-3,100 m above sea level 
in the Oetztal Alps, that is about 100-200 m higher than 100 years 
ago. In closed-in basins, valleys and troughs below 1,200 m 
temperature inversion occurs frequently in winter ( Inversion). But 
the places with the longest sunshine lie in these areas above this 
altitude, i.e. the Hungerburg terrace and the Seegrube near Innsbruck, 
the lower mountains in Tirol, the terraces around Aflenz, the 
Stolzalpe and the southern slopes of the lower mountains in Carinthia. 
The area around Lake Neusiedl and the central Waldviertel region are 
equally favoured with much sunshine (1,900-2,000 hours annually, as 
compared with Vienna's 1,838 hours, Zurich 1,760, Davos 1,814). The 
cold centres lie in the Lungau region (upper valley of River Mura, 
Tamsweg, St. Michael), in the middle of the Enns valley and in the 
Kamp valley south of Zwettl. Local and regional wind systems are of 
major importance in the Alps, in particular the  Foehn, which has an 
unfavourable influence on the health of many people and a dehydrating 
effect. Precipitation tends to decrease in the dry areas in the 
northeast and east, in the Alps it is rather stable or tends to 
increase slightly; average temperatures are clearly rising, 
particularly in winter, in summer heat and dry periods appear to occur 
more often then formerly.

!Literature
H. Nagl, Klima- und Wasserbilanztypen Oesterreichs (= 
Geographischer Jahresbericht aus Oesterreich XL, 1981), 1983; 
Oesterreich-Atlas, Karte der Klima-Typen (III/9), 
Bobek-Kuez-Zwittkovits, mit Erlaeuterungen; F. Zwittkovits, 
Klima-Typen, Klima-Bereiche, Klima-Facetten. Erlaeuterungen zur 
Klima-Typenkarte von Oesterreich, 1983.


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