Nock Mountains

Hardly any cold reserves following a cloudy night

Hardly any cold reserves following a cloudy night

Avalanche danger is moderate. In a few places on steep slopes which have not yet discharged, small-to-medium moist/wet avalanches can trigger naturally, esp. when windows of sunshine are more extended, or be triggered by winter sports enthusiasts. In isolated cases, small-to-medium glide-snow avalanches are possible. Above 2600m in the Tauern regions on wind-loaded slopes, in shady terrain and in gullies and bowls, small dry-snow slab avalanches can be triggered by minimum additional loading.

The snowpack is compact, moist or wet up to high altitutudes, contains melt-freeze crusts, weak layers are isolated but occur above 2500m. In high-alpine zones, 20cm of fresh fallen snow (Venediger Massif) lie deposited atop the wind-impacted snowpack. Southerly winds have formed snowdrift accumulations there, often deposited atop faceted expansively metamorphosed crystals and prone to triggering in places. Higher daytime temperatures and solar raditaion moisten the snowpack and cause firmness to be forfeited.

Southerly foehn winds will be blowing during the nighttime hours, with gusts reaching 60-80 km/hr. Low-lying clouds will hamper nocturnal outgoing longwave radiation. Sunday will start with sunshine, but cirrus clouds will move in during the morning and dust from the Sahara Desert will blanket the sun somewhat. Convective cloud build-up will shroud the summits somewhat. Foehn winds will persist but slacken off. At 1500m: 3-12 degrees; at 2500m: +4 degrees.

No significant change expected. Slopes are rapidly becoming bare of snow.