Lower Tauern South

Fresh snow and drifts prone to triggering

Fresh snow and drifts prone to triggering

Avalanche danger above the treeline is considerable, below that altitude danger is moderate. Slab avalanches can be triggered by minimum additional loading and grow to medium size, also isolated naturally triggered avalanches from ridgeline snowdrifts are possible. Near-surface slab avalanches in fresh snow and drifts can fracture down to deeper layers above 2200m on NW/N/E-facing slopes and grow to large size. Especially above the timberline, small-to-medium glide-snow avalanches can trigger naturally in very steep grass-covered terrain and grow to medium size.

Since Friday evening 50-100cm of fresh snow has been registered at high altitudes. By Tuesday midday another 20-30cm is anticpated. Inside the fresh snow and snowdrifts there are soft layers of loose snow or graupel. In the lower and middle parts of the snowpack above 2200m there are weak layers of faceted crystals which are embedded between crusts. Below 2000m the old snow is moist. Over ground which was bare before the precipitation, gliding movements are possible.

During the nocturnal hours, moist/cold air masses from the north will move over the Alps, light-to-moderate snowfall can be expected, intensifying in the latter part of the night. In exposed high-altitude terrain, strong-velocity northerly winds will prevail. On Tuesday, intermittent snowfall, in high-altitude Tauern regions a strong northerly wind will be blowing reaching 60 km/hr in exposed terrain. In the Northern Alps, moderate N/NE winds will prevail, windspeeds of 30 km/hr. At 2000m: -5 degrees; at 3000m: -10 degrees.

Likelihood of snowdrifts triggering will decrease slightly