Nock Mountains

Fresh drifts are easily triggered

Fresh drifts are easily triggered

Avalanche danger above the treeline is moderate, below that altitude danger is low. Fresh drifts can be triggered even by 1 person in steep terrain, and reach medium size. Danger zones occur in all aspects, increase with ascending altitude, are often blanketed over and hard to recognize. Danger of naturally triggered glide-snow avalanches persists below 2300 m. Where snow is deep enough, they can reach medium size. Avoid zones below glide cracks.

The most recent round of fresh snow was pressed and transported by stormy northerly winds. On Tuesday, fresh drifts will accumulate due to SE winds, these will be deposited atop loose snow and be prone to triggering. The base is largely stable although highly irregular. Large-area weak layers are unlikely. On shady high-alpine slopes there are crusts inside the old snowpack at which faceted layers are attached, these will trigger with large additional loading. The old snowpack base is moist. Due to the weight of the fresh snowfall, the tendency of the entire snowpack to glide downhill is thus reinforced.

Following a night of clear and windless skies, visibility on Tuesday will be mostly good, frequent sunshine is expected, only stray fogbanks. Moderate SE wind (40 km/hr). At 2000 m: -10 degrees, at 3000 m -12 degrees. Sunny weather will continue on Wednesday, the SE winds will slacken off, temperatures rise slightly.

Avalanche danger levels are not expected to change significantly. Caution urged esp. in wind-exposed steep terrain.