Hochschwab Mountains

Moderate avalanche danger above treeline – Easily triggered snowdrift patches

Moderate avalanche danger above treeline – Easily triggered snowdrift patches

Avalanche danger above the treeline is moderate, below that altitude danger is low. Danger zones of freshly generated brittle snowdrift accumulations can be triggered even by minimum additional loading. They occur mostly in gullies and bowls, also behind abrupt drops in the terrain in extended easterly aspects. The risks of falling on hardened icy ridgeline surfaces require attentiveness.

Fresh snow is being transported by stormy NW winds distant from ridgelines and deposited in gullies and bowls in extended eastern aspects where they lie atop melt-freeze crusts or an icy old snowpack surface or snowdrifts from previous days - bonding is poor. Elsewhere the snowpack surface is encrusted, particularly in exposed zones it is hard and icy. Where there was no snow prior to the precipitation, the fresh fallen snow is insufficient for backcountry tours.

On Monday it will be icy cold, very stormy in the mountains of Styria. At 2000 m: -10 degrees; at 1500 m: -6 degrees, in the south only slightly warmer. Winds will be storm-strength to gale-strength from the northwest. On the northern flank of the Alps, cloudy skies all day long, with often intensive snow showers. On the southern flank of the Alps, pleasant conditions with occasional snow showers. On Tuesday, still stormy, icy cold with frequent snow showers in the northern regions, only isolated minor showers in the southern regions. In the afternoon, weather improvement in all regions, precipitation will terminate, sunshine is expected on the southern flank of the Alps.

The snowdrift problem will persist, avalanche danger levels are not expected to change.