Glockner Group Pasterze

Evaluate fresh snowdrifts and weak layers with caution

Evaluate fresh snowdrifts and weak layers with caution

Ridgeline zones, gullies and bowls above 2400m: due to fresh snow and often strong winds from varying directions, snowdrifts accumulated on Friday. These can be triggered by one sole skier on NW/N/E facing slopes above 2400m. Avalanches can fracture down to more deeply embedded layers of the snowpack and, along the Salzburg border grow to medium size. Size and frequency of danger zones tend to increase with ascending altitude.

Since Friday, 5-10 cm of fresh snow has been registered, particularly along the Salzburg border, locally more. The snowdrift accumulations, particularly on NW/N/E facing slopes above 2400m, lie deposited atop an unfavorable old snowpack surface. The old snowpack is expansively metamorphosed and faceted. The snowpack is highly diverse even over small areas. At high altitudes there is too little snow on the ground for this juncture of the season.

On Sunday, often strong-velocity westerly to southwesterly winds will bring extensive cloudbanks. Sunshine will be only occasional. Windspeeds will lie between 30 and 50 km/hr. Temperatures will rise measurably at all altitudes. At 1000m in the afternoon: +2 degrees; at 2000m: 0 degrees; at 3000m: -1 degree.

No significant change in avalanche danger levels anticipated