Nock Mountains

Highly prone to triggering windslab snow on poor old snowpack

Highly prone to triggering windslab snow on poor old snowpack

The avalanche risk is considerable from the tree line upwards and moderate below. At low and medium altitudes, heat and rainfall put a strain on the snowpack. Medium to large slab avalanches can be triggered in some places by a single person. Danger areas are located at the transition from little to more snow and generally next to blown-off areas as well as in the entrance areas to gullies and bowls filled with wind slab. Caution should also be exercised at the edge of forests and in forest aisles. At low and medium elevations, mainly small, wet loose snow and gliding avalanches are to be expected spontaneously. Exposed transportation routes may be affected in isolated cases.

There is some heavy new fallen snow on top of the previously moistened snowpack. At higher altitudes, there is an inhomogeneous and prone to triggering sequence of drifting snow layers underneath due to changing wind speeds. Where present, the old snow foundation has been completely transformed. Fractures are possible mainly between the last layers of drift snow, but deeper-lying faceted layers in the persistent weak layer or the coarse-grained base of deep rime are also affected. At low elevations, the snowpack is completely soaked and in some places isothermal conditions are reached.

Very sunny weather with excellent visibility on the mountains on Wednesday. A few patches of fog will persist in the valleys until midday. The wind will blow weakly to moderately from west to north, in the first half of the day there will only be peaks of 60 to 70 km/h from the north in the high areas of the Tauern. It will soon be much milder than recently at all altitudes: Warming to 4 or 5 degrees at 2000 metres, temperatures around 0 degrees at 3000 metres in the afternoon.

Heavy precipitation sets in again, with intense rain at times up to around 2000 metres on Tuesday. Above that, there is heavy new fallen snow of 30 to 60 cm (mainly Steinberge/Hochkönig/Tennengebirge). The avalanche situation worsens again.