Werdenfels Alps

Caution: small to medium-sized wet loose snow avalanches in the afternoon.

Caution: small to medium-sized wet loose snow avalanches in the afternoon.

Avalanche danger above 2000 m is moderate; below it rises from low to moderate during the course of the day. Fresh snowdrift accumulations are the main problem. They can in a few places be triggered even by the weight of one sole person and release a slab avalanche. Avalanche prone locations are found in particular in steep ridgeline terrain in N/E/SE aspects as well as in freshly wind-loaded gullies . Avalanches also can reach medium size. Due to solar radiation and daytime warming the danger of wet avalanches will rise up to high altitudes during the course of the day. Superficial loose snow and slab avalanches trigger in steep rocky terrain on the sunny side. Glide snow avalanches are expected in particular in the Allgäu Alps on steep smooth grass-covered slopes. The avalanches are mostly small, but can also grow to medium size.

Friday will see increasingly brisk southwesterly wind, which will generate limited-spread snowdrifts at higher altitudes. In some places weak intermediate layers still persist in the fresh and also older snowdrift accumulations which can be prone to triggering. Elsewhere the 10-30 cm of newly fallen snow were deposited atop an encrusted thoroughly moist compact old snowpack on the sunny side or else as powder on a thoroughly moist compact old snowpack. As a consequence of mild temperatures and sunshine these snowpack layers will become increasingly moist and the bonding with the old snowpack will deteriorate. At intermediate altitudes the snowpack is frequently wet down to the ground which promotes gliding movements of the snowpack over the ground. Below 1500 m, the ground is becoming increasingly bare on the sunny side.

The next few days will see the onset of spring-like conditions including a wet avalanche daytime danger cycle.