Nock Mountains

Weak layers in persistent weak layers are prone to triggering!

Weak layers in persistent weak layers are prone to triggering!

The avalanche risk is considerable above around 1800 metres and low below. The situation is precarious for winter sports. Medium-sized slab avalanches can easily be triggered by individuals in some places, especially from west to north to east, but also in a few places in the southern sector. Remote triggering is also possible in isolated cases. If wind slabs are disturbed near the surface, there is a high likelihood of avalanches breaking through to deeper layers. The old snowpack is poorly built up across the board: Avalanche prone locations are barely recognisable and require a defensive route choice. In particular, be careful near transitions from a little to a lot of snow and in the entrance areas to steep gullies. On sunny slopes, small loose snow slides can spontaneously detach from very steep slopes during the daytime changes.

The snow surface is at least moist up to around 1500 metres, and even higher on sunny slopes. The snow surface can cool down overnight and is crusted can form and hardness in these areas in the morning. Above this and generally on shady slopes, the snow surface is usually still dry, here a bound snow slab of former new or drift snow overlays soft layers (e.g. surface hoar, faceted crystals) or older, hard wind slabs. In general, areas with little snow alternate with considerable snowdrift accumulations. Breaks occur either in soft layers near the surface or near the crust that forms the transition to the completely angular old snowpack. Below this crust, the old snowpack consists of deep rime and angular forms, which are interspersed with other crusts in areas with more snow. The overall snow depth is well below average.

During the night, the sky will often be clear, but in the second half of the night and in the morning, medium-high cloud fields will occasionally move through from the south. In the valleys there will be a blanket of high fog that will clear during the daytime changes. At 2000 metres it will be -4 to -1 degrees Celsius, at 3000 metres around -9 degrees Celsius.

The persistent weak layer problem remains.