Sunshine hours over Innsbruck

The shorter the days, the more hours of sunshine in Innsbruck? A perceived relative truth? I got to the bottom of the question and turned to Innsbruck's "weather host". Christian Zenkl has been running the Weather cafe at the Triumphpforte and is a meteorologist. But now he prefers it sociable than sitting in front of the monitors in the weather office or home office

In the morning for a coffee or in the evening for a beer. The Wettercafe is so centrally located that it is actually only a stone's throw away from any visit to the old town. Next to the pictures on the wall, one immediately notices the large screen with the current weather situation. Here you can follow the movements of the last hour over Europe, see clouds and storm fronts as they approach.

Christian also offers weather advice in addition to gastronomy. "Where is the best place to get information if you are planning a mountain tour in the Innsbruck area lasting several days?", I want to know from him. In any case, my iPhone weather is rarely right and other weather apps don't hit it too often either. The situation in the mountains is just special.

When special (weather) events occur, Christian likes to write his own "weather letter", sometimes also on his Facebook page. There you can often get very useful weather information and learn more. You can also book special weather consultations with him, should your planned tours require it.

His other tips are Weather report of the ZAMG Tirol, because a regional weather report is especially important. Who wants to know it exactly, calls. Weather forecasts for Tyrol can be obtained by calling the ZAMG telephone number 0900 566 566 6 at a cost of 3.64 euros/min. This is not cheap, but often a good investment, especially for tricky weather conditions or alpine undertakings.

The Alpine Club also has its own "Alpine club weather", in cooperation with the ZAMG. You can listen to it by phone at the following numbers (€ 0,68/minute):

• Overall alpine weather: 0900/911566-80
• Regional alpine weather: 0900/911566-81

But back to my actual question: the sunshine hours in Innsbruck. Christian has picked out some data for this and created a graph. Because you always have to be careful with data from the internet, he smiles.

"On an annual average, the sun shines in Innsbruck with a similar frequency as in other favoured provincial capitals. With the advantage, which is probably very pleasant for most people, that the hours of sunshine in Innsbruck are more frequent during the cold season. Especially from October to February we see the sun about 40% longer than for example the Viennese or Klagenfurter.

Since in the lowlands of the east, as well as in the Klagenfurt or Graz basin, many more days are clouded by fog and high fog, we enjoy a few hours of sunshine in the inner Alps, even if the days are generally very short in winter. Perhaps that's when it's all the more pleasant..."

The graphic shows this quite clearly:

"And in the summer?"I want to know.

"In the summer, things turn around and Innsbruck suddenly seems to get a few less hours of sunshine. But these measured facts have to be put into perspective. In the alpine terrain with many high mountains like around Innsbruck, it is often the case that so-called spring clouds form much faster in good weather conditions in summer than over the eastern lowlands.

Such shower and thunderstorm clouds can thus provide for an intermediate shading around Innsbruck already from the early afternoon, completely in the east the thunderstorms often come up only towards evening or sunset. Even if humans perceive the impression as rather sunny, however, the measuring apparatus does not write sunshine duration as soon as a small thick cloud shades out this station of all places."

And yes, I also often experience summer days as "sunny days" - even if the one or other spring cloud forms above my head while hiking. Often clouds are pleasant companions in summer, protecting us from the additional radiation load in the heat.

Another interesting observation that emerges from the data of the last decades: "In general, the duration of sunshine in Austria has increased significantly over the last decades. Regionally and seasonally somewhat different, but on average by 20-30%.

Such regional climate variations are part of the natural climate variability, but can also be influenced by large-scale and long-term climate changes via greenhouse gas emissions. No one knows exactly, but it is clear that Innsbruck is a sunny city, especially when others are in the fog 😉", says Christian.

Until the end of July 2021, there will be a very special second "Golden Roof" in Innsbruck's old town - one made of solar cells. Energie Tirol has had the photovoltaic roof erected in front of the old town with a view of the original. On the one hand, they want to promote energy autonomy 2050, on the other hand, passers-by can charge their mobile phones there.

On the bench at the foot of the installation, you can also take a seat in the shade while charging. From August on the Dachl will move on to its next stop: Kufstein. Here you can find more information.

On that note, I wish us all a sunny summer! And winter of course, but we always have that anyway 😉