Lower Tauern North

Circumvent fresh snowdrifts in steep terrain

Snowdrift accumulations lie deposited on shady slopes atop a loose, expansively metamorphosed snow base which can serve as a fracture surface. On sunny slopes, the bonding to the often encrusted old snowpack surface is somewhat more favorable. Intermittently strong-velocity W/NW winds have compacted and transported the snow in exposed terrain. Above about 2200m inside the old snowpack there are weak layer of faceted crystals, often consisting of surface hoar, which are frequently prone to triggering. The entire snowpack can glide away over steep rocky plates or grass-covered slopes.

Circumvent fresh snowdrifts in steep terrain

Avalanche danger above the timberline is moderate. The fresh snowdrifts can trigger a small to medium-sized slab avalanche even by minimum additional loading in some places. Size and frequency of the avalanche prone locations tend to increase rapidly with ascending altitude above the treeline. Avalanches triggered near to the surface can fracture down to more deeply embedded layers inside the old snowpack above 2200m. Danger zones occur particularly on N/E facing slopes, above 2400m also on S/W facing slopes. Caution urged in transitions from shallow to deep snow. Especially below 2400m, naturally triggered small-to-medium glide-snow avalanches are possible. Circumvent zones below glide cracks.

The night will begin with heavy clouds, in the latter part of the night light snowfall will set in from the west. Sunday will start with heavy clouds and often reduced visibility at high altitudes. A few centimetres of snow is possible, or rain. North of the Main Alpine Ridge, some snowfall (maximum 10cm) which will turn to rain extending up to over 2500m. More precipiation is expected in the north than in the south. The zero-degree level will ascend to 3000m by evening. Most of the winds will be moderate to brisk from southwesterly directions, windspeeds reaching 50 km/hr. At high altitudes it will be noticeably milder. At 2000m: from -9 to +2 degrees. On Sunday night, variably cloudy with high altitude clouds passing through.

Little change anticipated