Savinja Alps and Carinthia

New fallen snow will hide old traps and the danger of avalanches is increasing.

New fallen snow will hide old traps and the danger of avalanches is increasing.

Even a small additional load can trigger a small avalanche near ridges and other typical leeward areas with blowing snow. Chain avalanche triggering is also possible, where the triggering of a small clast of freshly blown snow causes the collapse of old weak layers in the snowpack! In particular, in some places, the additional load (blowing snow) will naturally trigger cluster avalanches.

Snow is scarce and local conditions are quite variable. A crust has formed on the surface in some places, which in many places also bears the weight of sand. In the osoles, the snowpack is mostly dry, compacted and hard on the surface, and completely cut at depth. Ridges and peaks are in many places blown down to a crusted or icy base. Particularly near the ridges, areas of blown snow have formed, under which the snowpack is thinned.

On such a surface above about 1000 m it has been snowing lightly since Friday evening with an increasing SW wind. New fallen snow will hide the old snow cover and will have little connection with it. New snowdrift accumulations are forming, which naturally put additional stress on the old snow cover, which has deep, persistent weak layers.

It will be cloudy and foggy, with mainly light snow above 1400 m, and occasionally and locally a little lower. Up to 20 cm of New fallen snow will fall by the evening. There will be a strong SW wind. It will be around 0 °C at 1500 m and -2 °C at 2000 m.

Sunday will be cloudy and foggy with occasional snow showers, with around 20 cm of snow still falling. The snowfall level will be slightly lower than on Saturday. Monday morning will clear and winds will ease. The danger of Avalanches will remain significant, at level 3.