Lawinenlagebericht

High avalanche danger at elevated altitudes, lots of fresh snow and snow transport

During the course of the morning the precipitation will spread throughout Vorarlberg. Intermittent snowfall is expected, which will often be heavy and extend down to low lying areas. Temperature at 2000 m: receding from -3 to -7 degrees. High altitude winds: initially strong from south to southwest, slackening off later on.

Friday will bring more precipitation starting in the afternoon. It will remain cold. Due to further fresh snow and snowdrift accumulations the avalanche situation will remain tense. Andreas Pecl

High avalanche danger at elevated altitudes, lots of fresh snow and snow transport

The great amounts of fresh snow can be triggered naturally as a loose-snow or slab avalanche in all aspects on steep slopes or can be triggered by minimum additional loading. Particularly at high altitude on steep shady slopes the snowpack can fracture down to deeper layers. These danger zones are invisible to the naked eye. Whump noises and cracks in the snowpack are signals of alarm. Activities outside the secured public ski areas demand much experience in on-site avalanche assessment, as well as knowledge of the terrain. In isolated cases, naturally triggered avalanches can grow to large size. At low and intermediate altitudes, glide-snow avalanches are triggering naturally on steep grass-covered slopes and in forest clearances. Exposed areas can also be placed at risk.

By early morning there was 25-40 cm of fresh snow registered widespread. With intermittently strong winds, small-to-medium sized snowdrift accumulations were repeatedly formed in ridgeline and pass areas, as well as behind protruberances in the landscape. Fresh snow and drifts were deposited on top of a consolidated, often rain-encrusted, settled snowpack surface up to nearly 1800 m. Bonding to the frequently loosely-packed old snowpack surface which is riddled with graupel is only moderate to poor, making it prone to triggering. At mid-level inside the snowpack on high-altitude shady slopes there are layers of faceted crystals.