Hochschwab Mountains

Considerable avalanche danger above treeline – Easily triggered snowdrift patches

Considerable avalanche danger above treeline – Easily triggered snowdrift patches

Main danger: freshly generated snowdrift accumulations. The transported snow is brittle and often prone to triggering, esp. on NE/S facing slopes behind abrupt drops in the terrain. Gullies and bowls can be filled to the brim in all aspects, danger zones increase with ascending altitude. Small-to-medium sized slab avalanches can be triggered by one person.

Since last Sunday winter has returned to the mountains in Upper Styria: stormy winds and up to 30 cm of fresh snow by Monday evening in the Northern Alps, 20 cm in Niedere Tauern, deposited atop a melt-freeze encrusted old snowpack surface. Winds have created new drifts, bonding is often poor. Slabs can trigger both in the fresh snow and at the border to the old snow. Where there was previously no snow on the ground, too little fresh snow has fallen for good backcountry tours.

On Tuesday the precipitation will lessen but in the barrier cloud regions snow showers and stormy NW winds will still prevail. In the afternoon, tapering off but winds will still be stormy. On the southern flank of the Alps, northerly foehn wind will disperse the clouds, some sunshine is expected. At 2000m: -11 degrres; at 1500m: -6 degrees. On Wednesday a warm front will bring gray skies, some snowfall above 1300 m on the northern flank of the Alps. Winds will slacken off. Also Thursday will be gray, but very mild.

The snowdrift problem will persist. Avalanche danger levels will not change significantly.