Seetaler Alps

Older snowdrifts due to storm-strength winds

Older snowdrifts due to storm-strength winds

Avalanche focus lies in the regions of northern Upper Styria where snowfall has been heaviest. But the fresh snowdrift accumulations on the southern flank of the Alps should not be ignored, even though the amounts of new snow were minor. Most of the drifts were deposited on E/S aspects, thus the danger is set at moderate. Even minimum additional loading can trigger avalanches. Particularly the transitions from shallow to deep snow require caution.

Some snowdrift accumulations have been deposited atop a hardened, often surface hoar-encrusted surface. The old snowpack beneath was able to settle well, only on shady slopes are there faceted crystals surrounding the melt-freeze crusts which weaken the snowpack. Elsewhere the snowpack is generally hard and icy.

The Eastern Alps are caught between a high over the Atlantic and a NE air current. From the west, high-pressure conditions are coming.. Styria is divided in two: west and southwest are bathed in sunshine; the eastern massifs still endur a moist-cold climate and low lying clouds. Temperatures in the western massifs will reach -2 degrees at 2000 m; -2 degrees at 1500 m in the west, -5 in the east. On the eastern rim of the Alps, strong NW winds will rise. Wednesday, quite similar. The high over the Azores will expand, but the eastern regions of Styria will remain moist. In the course of the afternoon the clouds will disperse somewhat. The NW winds will remain strong here, unlike in the other regions.

Little change in the avalanche situation.