Verwall Mountains West

Still unfavourable conditions at high altitudes

Still unfavourable conditions at high altitudes

At high altitudes, considerable avalanche danger still prevails. Avalanche prone locations occur in wind-loaded steep terrain, also distant from ridgelines and particularly behind abrupt discontinuities in the terrain, in gullies and bowls. Size and spread of the danger zones increase with ascending altitude. Whumpf noises and glide cracks in the snowpack surface are signals of danger. Also remote triggerings and naturally triggered avalanches are possible. If avalanches fracture down to these layers they can grow to large size. Below 2200 m on sunny steep grassy slopes, glide-snow avalanches are possible during the day.

In higher altitude ridgeline terrain, fresh trigger-sensitive snowdrift accumulations have been generated by the strong SE winds. Fresh snow and drifts from the last few days have. been able to settle and consolidate. On sunny slopes the snowpack as settled due to solar radiation. With ascending altitude this process takes somewhat longer due to low temperatures. Fresh snow and snowdrifts often lie deposited atop unfavourable weak laysers with surface hoar, melt-freeze crusts or softened layers. Bonding of fresh snow and drifts to the snowpack and between the inner-snowpack layers is often poor. Reports, naturally triggered releases and stability tests confirm the high proneness to triggering of the snowpack.

Nocturnal hours: a night of clear and cold skies, temperatures dropping to -4 to -10 degreers, in places to -15 degrees. Thursday: high-pressure front conditions, cloudless skies, brilliant sunshine. Slight SE foehn wind can be bothersome especially in Silvretta-Arlberg regions. At 2000 m: -10 to -7 degrees. Moderate easterly winds.

Mostly sunny in coming days due to high-pressure front conditions. Temperatures will remain wintery. The snowpack is still prone to triggering.