Ybbstaler Alpen

Drift snow packs can easily be triggered!

Drift snow packs can easily be triggered!

The fresh wind slab is prone to triggering and can be triggered by even a small additional load. Avalanche prone locations can be found adjacent to ridgelines and distant from ridgelines in almost all aspects. Snowdrift accumulations are mainly located in gullies, bowls and behind terrain edges down to forest aisles. Slab avalanches can reach medium size. Defensive behaviour is required when venturing into open terrain.

Since Monday evening, up to 25 cm of new fallen snow has fallen in combination with gale-force winds in some places. This covers the snowfall of the past week, which was also heavily influenced by the wind and relocated accordingly.

Relevant weak layers are mainly in the windslab snow and at the transition to the predominantly stable old snowpack.

In the old snowpack, faceted crystals or floating snow are still present in places at shady high altitudes. However, these are currently hardly prone to triggering and do not pose a significant avalanche problem.

At lower altitudes, there is less snow overall, in particular on sunny slopes.

In the night to Wednesday, the snowfall on the northern side of the Alps will decrease significantly or almost completely. At first, the mountains will be mostly shrouded in cloud and there will be snow showers to the west. It will only soften up a little at times. The high-altitude wind will blow briskly to strongly from the north to the east. Temperatures at 1500 m will rise from -5 to -1 °C during the daytime changes. The sun may appear from the east during the afternoon.

The wind slab problem is diminishing. Clouds will continue to accumulate from the north on Thursday, with short snow showers still possible.