European Wilderness Volunteer DiaryThe Diary of the European Wilderness Society Volunteers
Wilderness Diary-30728.jpg - © European Wilderness Society CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Wilderness Diary-30728.jpg - © European Wilderness Society CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

What happend so far in Tamsweg?

Here in Tamsweg, we had strange weather conditions in the last weeks. First, we had just a bit of snow. But then, the snow fell and fell and within 12 hours, everything was covered in a very thick snow cover. The world started to be slower then usual, but also more dangerous.

The snow fell and fell and ….

On the way to the office, I took the bike, which turned out to be not the best idea. The roads were not really cleared and I wished to have skies insted of wheels. But I made it more or less save and sound to the office. While sitting in the office, we could see that the snow kept falling and falling and falling. And around lunchtime, we very worried about the birch tree just behind the office. The snow was so heavy and wet, that the branches of the birch were snapped off. It looked like they were on the brink to break.

Turned out to get worse

And after the trees had to suffer, because of the weight of the snow, it started to rain at the weekend. It was not just a normal rain, but kind of a flood. You know the saying it is raining cats and dogs. For sure here it was like that. And our small and calm river in Tamsweg turned out to be a torrential river one. Elsewhere, whole streets where closed, because it was washed out and not safe anymore. But the good side-effect of the rain was, that the snow melted fast. First of all the snow got very heavy but afterwards the trees were able to breathe again.

The results of strange weather conditions

One week later, I walked up the mountains, which led me through a forest. It was a forest on a slope, full of spruce, some larches and a few birches. So the soil was washed away, you still could see it on the ground where the water went. And it was incredible, how many crown fractures I saw. I estimate, that nearly each tenth tree top was broken. But luckily the birch behind the office is still pretty fine.

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