Mur Mountains, Gurktal Alps

15 to 30 cm of new fallen snow with wind on a weak old snowpack! Tricky situation for winter sports in open terrain!

15 to 30 cm of new fallen snow with wind on a weak old snowpack! Tricky situation for winter sports in open terrain!

15 to 30 cm of new fallen snow was deposited on a soft snow surface or surface hoar under moderate to strong winds. Medium-sized slab avalanches can be triggered in some places. Naturally triggered avalanches and remote triggering are also possible. Fractures can tear through the poorly built-up persistent weak layer. The avalanche prone locations are barely recognisable and should be assessed defensively. Take particular care in the transition from a little to a lot of snow and in the blown-in entrance areas of gullies and bowls.

Due to 15 to 30 cm of new fallen snow and moderate to strong winds, fresh drift snow packs have formed, some of which have been deposited on surface hoar or a soft snow surface. Fractures usually occur at the transition from new fallen snow to old snowpack or within the old snowpack. Between melt-freeze crusts, the old snowpack consists of deep rime and angular forms.

Thursday will be mostly cloudy, with clouds and fog dominating and visibility usually very limited. A few centimetres of new fallen snow are still possible during the daytime changes. The temperature at an altitude of 2000 metres will be around -1 degree. The temperature at an altitude of 1500 metres will be around 2 degrees. Moderate to brisk winds with gusts of around 40 km/h from the south. The wind will weaken in the afternoon.

On Friday, there will be a brief intermittent high with some sunny spells. In the afternoon, it will start to get cloudy again from the west. The avalanche danger decreases slightly.