Less snow – winter in Vienna is not what it once was

Can you remember the last time there was snow in the city? It’s been a while. The most significant snowfall of the past 15 years occurred between December 2 and 3, 2023. In total, about 20 centimeters of snow fell. Also worth mentioning are the events on February 9, 2015 (approx. 13 cm) and on January 31, 2017 (approx. 12 cm).

White Christmas is rare
Winters in Vienna have become increasingly mild in recent decades and snowfall – and therefore a white Christmas – has become a rare event. Childhood memories of daily snowball fights and toboggan rides in the Prater are now far away.

The winters are becoming milder and milder
The once cold, white and dark season has given way to milder temperatures and snowless months. In Vienna in the winter of the 1960s there were on average 40 days with a snow cover of at least 1 cm. Today there are only 25 on average.

The days with a decent total snow depth of over 10 cm have even been halved from 20 to 10. The reasons? “On the one hand, it generally snows less and less often, but on the other hand, cold phases are more often interrupted by extremely mild thaws,” explains UBIMET meteorologist Michele Salmi.

Also less ice
Above all, the duration of snow cover is rapidly decreasing. The trend is even more extreme for the so-called ice days (days on which the temperature does not rise above 0 degrees): In the 1960s there was an average of 29 ice days per winter, today only 15. This also applies in this case. The change has occurred in recent fifteen years in particular, has occurred at a significantly accelerated pace.

Exhibition in the Vienna Museum
The exhibition ‘Winter in Vienna’ can be seen in the Vienna Museum until March 16. This sheds light on the changes in winter Vienna over the centuries.