Hochschwab Mountains

Wet snow as the main danger up to high altitudes

Wet snow as the main danger up to high altitudes

The avalanche risk is moderate. From the morning, small to medium-sized, wet loose snow and slab avalanches can release themselves or be triggered by people in all aspects of the terrain that has not yet been discharged. In a few extremely steep, shady areas above 2200 metres, small to medium-sized slab avalanches can still be triggered in persistent weak layers.

The outgoing longwave radiation at night is repeatedly weak, so that the snow surface softens in the morning. The isothermal snow cover up to high altitudes is moist or wet, which leads to decreasing firmness. In very shady areas above 2200 metres, there are still prone to triggering weak layers such as angular shapes and deep rime in the persistent weak layer. Deep and, in places, middle layers are snowed out.

The high pressure slowly subsides. Dusty desert air moves over the Styrian mountains overnight and allows the low humidity in the air to condense. As a result, there is dense cloud throughout the mountains, but most of the peaks are clear and it remains dry. Dense clouds will also predominate in the Styrian mountains on Monday. The peaks are likely to be shrouded in fog more often, especially in the morning. In the afternoon, however, visibility should be good with higher cloud levels. The sun may appear briefly in places. Scattered rain showers are to be expected in the evening at the earliest. The southerly foehn will already be noticeable in the night to Monday and will pick up a little during the day. It will be stormy at times on the mountains, especially north of the main Alpine ridge. The temperature at an altitude of 2,000 metres will be between +3 and +7 degrees.

With the collapse of the Föhn wind, very changeable April weather with sun, clouds and short showers will set in from Tuesday. The snowfall level will remain above 2000 metres. The wet snow problem remains predominant.