August snow in Austria and Germany
© DPABaffling pictures emerged of August snow in Austria and Germany

Stunning pictures baffle the world as Austrian mountains covered in up to 40cm of snow

We're in August and people across the EU should be enjoying summer's sweltering temperatures.

But baffling images show Germany and Austria covered in SNOW as temperatures dropped up to 15 degrees from one day to another.

The pictures shows different mountainous areas in the two bordering countries turning into a very early winter wonderland.

Of the two, Austria was most hit with up a downfall over the weekend that left it with up to 40cm of snow.

The city of Salzburg, according to WetterOnline , saw the heaviest downfall. But areas at less than 1000 metres of altitude were also covered in snow.

The ski town of Bad Gastein, for example, which is south of Salzburg and at 900 metres of altitude, awoke to a dreamy white landscape as it was covered in up to five centimetres of snow.

Residents of Obertauern, Rauris, Sankt Jakob in Defereggental and Hintertux on Sunday morning were welcomed with snowflakes amid zero-degree temperatures.


And according to the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (CIMG) announced, higher mountain roads from Tyrol to Styria were inaccessible because of the sudden and equally bizarre weather. It also snowed down on the 1,200 metre-high Alps valley of Pustertal.

The Alpine Sölkpass road (L704) had to be closed between Stein an der Enns (Liezen district) and Baierdorf in the Murau district in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Kärntner Nockalm road was also closed off.

Heavy rain in Salzburg and in Austria's most southern state, Carinthia, East Tyrol, say a downpour of between 50 and 100l in just 24 hours.

Germany also a summer wonderland on its highest mountain, the Zugspitze , where up to 10 inches of fresh snow fell as thermometers hit minus seven.

But a German Weather Service (DWD) meteorologist said warmer temperatures are set for a comeback as early as Tuesday.

"It gets moderately warm in Bavaria, in the top we reach 25 degrees locally," said the meteorologist.

Wednesday is braced to be the warmest day of the week with highs of 30 degrees in Lower Franconia.

Austria too will see summer temperatures again from the start of the week, according to the CIMG.

Monday could see temperatures as high as 25C, while Tuesday could be anywhere between 23C and 28C reaching a maximum of 31C on Wednesday.