Hochschwab Mountains

Moderate avalanche danger above the tree line. Even a single person can trigger a slab avalanche!

Moderate avalanche danger above the tree line. Even a single person can trigger a slab avalanche!

The avalanche danger is moderate above the tree line (level 2) and low below. Fresh snowdrift accumulations, mainly in the north, east and south sectors, but locally also in other aspects and in forest aisles, can be triggered as medium slab avalanches in some places behind ridgelines, terrain edges and in gullies and bowls even with a small additional load.

Up to 30 cm of new fallen snow has fallen since Thursday, partly interspersed with graupel. Stormy westerly to north-westerly winds have brought the snow to the eastern sectors on a large scale, but locally all directions and also forest aisles below the tree line can be affected. The fresh wind slab often lies on an unstable layer of faceted crystals or surface hoar. In the foundation of the snow cover, kinetic metamorphism (floating snow) weakens the stability.

It will remain mostly clear on Monday night, with clouds gathering from the west in the morning. A warm front will bring some snowfall to the northern side of the Alps from midday. The frost will weaken significantly and the snowfall level will rise to 1400 metres by the evening. The temperature will rise from -10 degrees in the morning to -1 degrees in the evening. The wind is still blowing strongly from the north-west.

Tuesday will be mild and the clouds will soften. The avalanche risk will change only slightly for the time being.