Lower Tauern Central

Wide-ranging and highly atypical snowdrifts

Wide-ranging and highly atypical snowdrifts

CONSIDERABLE danger prevails. Slabs can be triggered even by minimum additional loading. Danger zones exist both near to and distant from ridges, behind protruberances and in sparsely wooded zones. Also gullies and bowls are filled to the brim with drifts. Triggered avalanches can be medium to large sized, if at high altitudes a fracture goes deeper down they can grow to large size. In high alpine starting zones, avalanches can develop a snow cloud.

Atop a well settled snowpack, 30 t0 50 cm of cold, fresh snow was registered on Monday. Wind impact, largely from the northwest, was extreme, transported the snow and deposited huge masses. Exposed zones are utterly windblown, atypical cornicees and dunes have formed. Possible fracture points for slabs lie inside the fresh snow and drifts (graupel), particularly the surface from Sunday (blanketed powder or a thin soft layer with graupel atop the melt-freeze crust). More deeply embedded layers are weak, triggerable by large additional loading.

On Tuesday, visibility will vary, the peaks will be shrouded in fog but below it will be clear. The NW winds will be strong in the Tauern and Northern Alps, but slacken off during the day. Temperatures will rise. At 2000 m: -8 to -3 degrees; at 3000 m: -10 to -4 degrees. On Wednesday outstanding visibility, hardly any clouds. Winds will be blowing at 30 to 50 km/hr. Temperatures will rise. At 2000 m: 4 degrees. At 3000 m: 0 degrees.

On Wednesday sunshine and warmer temperatures, the new snow will be moist at low and intemediate altitudes (gliding snow, wet-snow problem). On sunny high-altitudes slopes, further settling.