Nock Mountains

Hardly any avalanche prone locations, some weak layers in the old snowpack

As a result of the new snow on Wednesday and Thursday, the situation above intermediate altitudes will change: avalanche danger will increase.

Hardly any avalanche prone locations, some weak layers in the old snowpack

Avalanche danger is still low, with very few danger zones where a slab avalanche can be triggered in the old snow by large additional loading. Most likely on extremely steep, shallow-snow slopes above about 2200 m in E/N aspects. Shallow-snow and extremely steep slopes, particularly near ridgelines, should be circumvented. The danger of taking a fall on the steel-hard icy surfaces outweighs that of being buried in snow.

Snow quality is rather poor. Melt-freeze encrusted surfaces (steel-hard, icy, breakable, snowdrift patches dominate. Crests and ridges are utterly windblown. Beneath the melt-freeze crusts is a soft layer which is currently not avalanche-relevant. A potential trigger-sensitive layer of expansively metamorphosed and soft old snow is evident above 2000/2200 m in E/N aspects. This weak layer is currently not triggerable or only over small areas, i.e. not area-wide.

On Monday, sunny in most of the mountains. During the day, only bits of cloud will pass through far above summit levels. At 2000 m: -1 degree; at 3000 m: -8 degrees. Moderate southerly winds. On Tuesday above the valley fog there is good visibility despite cloudbanks passing through, though the light conditions might be diffuse intermittently. During the afternoon cloudbanks will become heavier, towards evening light snowfall will set in (below 1700-1900 m rainfall). At 2000 m: 0 degrees; at 3000 m: -7 degrees.