Cold Front Penetration to Innsbruck

It was a pretty interesting weather day yesterday in Innsbruck.  Although nestled in the heart of the Alps, Innsbruck is climatologically a fairly dry place.  The mountains to the north are wet, but storms tend to weaken quite a bit in crossing them.  The mountains to the south of Innsbruck are thus climatologically drier than those to the north.

Yesterday, a cold frontal precipitation band moved across the nrorthern Alps and approached Innsbruck from the west down the Inn Valley and from the North across the Nordkette chain.  Below is a synthetic radar image (technically a 5-minute forecast to get around usage restrictions) of the precipitation band at 1530 Central European Time (CET). 

Source: Kachelmanwetter.com

Below is a sequence of photos looking roughly north from my office showing the spillover of snowfall across the Nordkette as the frontal-band approached. 

The snow level was near 1000 meters, so it was a rain event in the valley.  Sadly, it was a quick hitter as well, as the clouds were parting when I walked home in the evening.  If you look carefully, you can see the snowline on the mountains to the left in the photo.

Still, it was good entertainment for the afternoon and our first weather discussion of the semester.