Tennen Mountains, Gosaukamm

Fresh wind slab prone to triggering

Fresh wind slab prone to triggering

The avalanche risk is moderate above the tree line and low below. In some places, wind slabs adjacent to the ridgeline can be triggered by even a small additional load. Slab avalanches can reach medium size, the snowdrift accumulations grow during the daytime changes. Most avalanche prone locations are on north-west, north to south-east facing slopes, behind terrain edges, in gullies and bowls. Cracks when walking on the snow cover, snowpack indicate the danger. In addition to the risk of burial, the danger of being swept away and falling must be taken into account. There are also still many stones lurking.

By Friday evening, 10 to 20 cm of new fallen snow had fallen, with a further 5 to 10 cm falling by Saturday evening. Wind and snowfall are constantly forming fresh wind slabs at altitude. The last snow to fall, surface hoar as well as faceted crystals above/below the top crust can serve as a weak layer. The rest of the old snowpack consists of layers of faceted crystals, deep rime and melt-freeze crusts and has little tendency to break up. Below 1400 metres, rainfall moistened the snow cover on Friday, where a melt-freeze crust has formed on which the new fallen snow lies. The amount of snow is well below average.

The night to Saturday will be cloudy with light snowfall in places (maximum 5 cm of fresh snow). On Saturday, visibility will often be limited by dense clouds. In addition, light to moderate snowfall will become more frequent during the daytime changes - 5 to 10 cm will fall during the day. In Lungau, it will be mostly precipitation-free during the day, with occasional sunny spells. Brisk to strong winds from westerly directions, peaking at around 70 km/h at exposed high altitudes. Temperatures at 2000 m around -9 degrees, at 3000 m around -17 degrees.

The wind slab remains prone to triggering. As the snowfall continues, the snowdrift accumulations will increase slightly.