Weisseck, Muhr Valley

Still weak layers on shady slopes, beware gliding snow activity

Still weak layers on shady slopes, beware gliding snow activity

Avalanche danger above 1800 m is moderate, below that altitude danger is low. Danger zones occur mostly in very steep shady terrain. Size and frequency of avalanche prone locations increase with ascending altitude. Special caution urged in transitions from shallow to deep snow, e.g. at entries into gullies and bowls. On steep grass-covered slopes, gliding snow activity is increasing. Glide-snow avalanches are usually small, occasionally they reach medium size. During the course of the day, increasingly frequent wet loose-snow avalanches are possible in sunny rough and rocky terrain which has not yet discharged.

Older snowdrifts have bonded well with the old snowpack. On shady slopes the drifts blanket an instable snowpack. At high altitudes, faceted layers near a melt-freeze crust are still prone to triggering. On sunny slopes the snowpack has a melt-freeze crust in early morning, which becomes sticky during the daytime. Also on shady slopes, the reserves of cold are dispersing, the surface is becoming heavy and bonded. The snowpack is highly irregular. Exposed zones are windblown, there are huge cornices. At lower altitudes the snowpack is thoroughly moist, wet at ground level.

During the night, clouds will disperse, the peaks become free. At lower altitudes, fog will accumulate. In the Tauern, southerly winds will intensify (40 km/hr). On Thursday the mountains of the Main Tauern Ridge will often be shrouded in clouds from the south, further north the clouds will disperse. Southerly winds will reach 60 km/hr in the foehn lanes of the Tauern. At 2000 m: rising from +1 to +4 degrees; at 3000 m: -3 degrees.

Avalanche danger levels are not expected to change significantly.