Hochschwab Mountains

Low avalanche danger, but persistent weak layer problems in the northern and eastern exposures!

Low avalanche danger, but persistent weak layer problems in the northern and eastern exposures!

The avalanche risk is low. In the northern and eastern exposures, there is still a persistent weak layer problem at altitudes above the tree line. In addition, the strong to stormy southerly winds have created fresh pillows of wind drifted snow. In steep terrain, these can be triggered in a few places. However, the avalanches remain small even if they tear through to the old snowpack. In general, the risk of entrainment, falling and injury outweighs the risk of burial. However, be careful in the area of terrain traps.

There is still significantly less snow than average. A thin, partly bound snowpack covers a very variable and mostly hard old snowpack. There is significantly more snow in shady gullies and bowls than on sunny slopes, some of which are partly bare up to 2000 metres. In the northern and eastern exposures, the snowpack is still weakened by layers with faceted crystals and floating snow (persistent weak layer problem!).

The last rain and snowfall will subside on Thursday evening and the cloud cover will soften, especially in the northern Alps. After the dissolution of residual clouds and fog, Friday will temporarily bring quite sunny mountain weather, but clouds will return from the south-west in high and medium-high layers during the afternoon. However, it will remain dry until the evening. The wind will blow moderately to strongly from a south-westerly to north-westerly direction. Temperatures at 2000 metres will be between -2 and +2 degrees, at 1500 metres between -1 and +4 degrees.

On Sunday, the sun will often shine over the peaks, but in the morning it will still often be cloudy and foggy below 2000 metres. The persistent weak layer problem remains.