Verwall Mountains West

Main dangers: fresh snowdrift accumulations and weak old snow

On Tuesday, brilliant sunshine, higher temperatures, settling fresh snow, initially higher naturally triggered avalanche activity. All in all, avalanche danger will slowly recede.

Main dangers: fresh snowdrift accumulations and weak old snow

Avalanche danger above 2000m is considerable, danger below that altitude is moderate. Triggering fresh snowdrift accumulations is possible even by minimum additional loading, i.e. from one sole skier. The fresh snowdrifts are triggerable mostly on NW/N/E facng slopes. Danger zones occur esp. in steep ridgeline terrain, in gullies, bowls and behind abrupt discontinuities in the terrain. The frequency of danger zones increases with ascending altitude. In addition, isolated avalanches can be triggered in the weak old snowpack, particularly above 2400m, esp. in seld-tracked shady steep terrain. Transition zones from shallow to deep snow require special caution, e.g. at entries into gullies and bowls. Avalanche triggerings are possible especially by large additional loading. A prudent route selection is recommended. At intermediate and high altitudes on smooth, steep slopes, isolated glide-snow avalanches are still possible.

There has been 35 cm of fresh snow registered, accompanied by strong wind impact, which was deposited atop an old snowpack surface of springtime temperatures. Usually a melt-freeze crust dominated the surfaces, thus, the fresh snow and drifts bond will with the rough-hewn surface. The stability of the snowpack is poorer in wind-protected shady high altitude terrain with expansively metamorphosed layers atop which the fresh snow will lie. At intermediate altitudes there is only little snow on the ground. At low altitudes the snow will often fall on bare ground. At mid-level inside the snowpack there are faceted layers. More deeply embedded weak layers are generally unlikely to trigger, if at all, then in transitions from shallow to deep snow. These danger zones are not visible to the naked eye.

Nocturnal hours: in Bregenzerwald and the Tirolean borderline regions, some snowfall is possible, otherwise it will be dry with dispersed clouds. In the north, strong NE winds, later spreading over into the southern regions. Sunshine will be limited or hampered. Higher temperatures than on Sunday. At 2000 m: -10 degrees. Moderate to brisk E/NE winds.