Bregenzerwald Mountains

Main danger: snowdrift accumulations and weak layers in the old snow

Thursday will be variably cloudy with brief bright intervals. It will remain cold. The process of settling and consolidating will progress very slowly due to low temperatures.Avalanche danger levels are not expected to change significantly.

Main danger: snowdrift accumulations and weak layers in the old snow

Fresh (and already blanketed) snowdrifts are prone to triggering particularly in ridgeline zones, but also distant from ridgelines, wind-loaded gullies and bowls and behind abrupt discontinuities in the terrain. They tend to increase with ascending altitude. Medium slab avalanches can be triggered by one sole winter sports enthusiast. If they fracture to deeper layers they can grow to large size. Above 2400 m on steep shady slopes there are unfavourable layers in the old snowpack. Activities in backcountry demand experience in avalanche danger assessment on-site. In steep rocky terrain above 2400 m the fresh snow can trigger small to medium loose-snow avalanches naturally.

The intermittently strong-to-stormy winds have transported the fresh snow and loose old snow, exposed zones and knolls are often windblown, gullies and bowls are filled to the brim with drifts. Fresh snow and snowdrifts often lie deposited atop loose and soft layers, on older snowdrifted masses or atop melt-freeze encrusted old snowpack surfaces and are often riddled with graupel. Bonding to the old snowpack deteriorates with ascending altitude. At high altitudes on steep shady slopes in particular, there are still weak layers deeply embedded inside the snowpack which are not visible to the naked eye.

Nocturnal hours: heavy cloud cover, light snowfall. Wednesday: heavily overcast for the most part, light snowfall in the northern barrier cloud zones, by evening up to 10 cm of fresh snow is possible. Poor visibility is expected. Small bright intervals will be brief, more likely in the southern mountain massifs. Temperatures will drop. At 2000 m: -10 degrees. Moderate westerly winds.