A snowstorm that swept across Austria on Friday, February 20, 2026, left five people dead, grounded flights in Vienna and cut power to tens of thousands of homes. Police said a 53-year-old man was crushed by a snowplow in Linz, in the country’s north.
Four of the dead were skiers caught in avalanches in Tyrol. Three died in a large slide near the St Anton resort: rescuers pulled two from the snow but could not revive them, and a third died in hospital. A German skier was killed at Nauders while skiing away from the marked pistes with his 16-year-old son, who came out of the slide with serious injuries. The pair had been crossing a north-facing slope when a slab of snow about 400 metres wide, or 1,310 feet, broke loose and carried them some 200 to 300 metres downhill.
The deaths brought Austria’s season avalanche toll to 21, and Tyrol officials told skiers to stay away from off-piste terrain, saying the danger would stay high for days.
The storm also scrambled travel and power. Vienna International Airport paused flights on Friday morning and afternoon services were disrupted, with more than 230 inbound flights rerouted or delayed. About 20 centimetres of snow, nearly 8 inches, accumulated around the airport. In Styria, 30,000 homes lost electricity. Snow totals of 10 to 30 centimetres, about 4 to 12 inches, were reported across parts of the country since Thursday.
