Hochschwab Mountains

Snowpack getting wetter and wetter - Heed wet-snow avalanches

On Saturday, sunny weather, often cloudless skies, clouds no disturbance. Outstanding visibility. Winds light to moderate from SW to SE. Slightly less mild than on Friday. At 2000 m: 5 degrees. Sunday will start pleasant, with sunshine, the clouds will soon get heavier however. In the afternoon, fog will wreathe many peaks, but not much precipitation is expected. Winds will shift to NW and temperatures drop. At 2000 m: 1 degree in the Northern Alps and 5 degrees on the southern flank of the Alps.

It will remain mild, the wet-snow avalanche activity will continue.

Snowpack getting wetter and wetter - Heed wet-snow avalanches

Avalanche danger above the treeline is moderate, below that altitude danger is low. Wet loose-snow and slab avalanches of medium size can be expected on steep slopes where there was snowfall at the beginning of the week which has not yet discharged. During the course of the day, avalanche activity will increase slightly. Below the trereline small-to-medium wet-snow avalanches can release in gullies which have not yet discharged. On steep grassy slopes the gliding movement of the snowpack is increasing. Avoid glide cracks, circumvent them.

Due to the persistent warmth the snowpack moistened on Friday up to high altitudes, and will continue to do so on Saturday, then form a melt-freeze crust overnight which softens rapidly the next day. On sunny slopes the snowpack is often thoroughly wet, west and east-facing slopes are doing so ever more, making the snowpack lose firmness. On shady slopes the snowpack below the treeline has few cold reserves remaining, is becoming increasingly moist on the surface. Above the treeline there are more reserves of cold, but the warmth is making it moist and instable. On isolated shady slopes at high altitudes the snowpack is fragmented, making moistness greater and stability further endangered.