Hochschwab Mountains

Wet loose-snow avalanches due to surging warmth

Wet loose-snow avalanches due to surging warmth

On Saturday the main problem will be naturally treiggered wet loose-snow avalanches of medium size in all aspects. Danger zones for slab avalanches are limited to high altitudes in the Schladminger Tauern and Dachstein regions where there are still trigger-sensitive snowdrifts, esp. behind abrupt drops in the terrain and in gullies and bowls.

Through the higher temperatures the most recent snowfall is being moistened, older drifts are losing their internal tension. Further snow transport, snowdrift generation, is only at high altitudes. At intermediate altitudes the snowpack has lost much stability and are becoming bare.

Throughout the Eastern Alps, weak high-pressure front conditions prevail on Saturday. On the northern flank of the Alps the weather will be pleasant right from the start, in the Tauern there will be low lying clouds from the south, quickly dispersing. In tne Gurktal Alps as far as the rimline ranges, dense convective clouds will form in the afternoon. Winds will be light from S/SE. At 2000 m: +6 degrees; at 1500m: 11 degrees. But on Sunday the weather will turn instable. Clouds will persist, the northern ranges will soon lie in fog. From Dachstein to Hochschwab, rain showers will begin at midday, during the afternoon rain showers and thunderstorms will throughout the mountains. Winds will shift to northwesterly, temperatures drop. At 2000 m: 2-5 degrees.

Receding danger of slab avalanches due to lack of nocturnal outgoing (longwave) radiation. But persistent danger of moist/wet loose-snow avalanches.