Hochschwab Mountains

Fresh snowdrifts above treeline require caution. Avoid slopes below glide cracks.

Fresh snowdrifts above treeline require caution. Avoid slopes below glide cracks.

With ascending altitude, swift increase in avalanche prone locations and danger level from LOW to CONSIDERABLE. Main wind-loaded zones of fresh drifts are on east and south-facing slopes, cannot be ruled out in other aspects. Even minimum additional loading can trigger a slab avalanche. On all steep slopes where the ground is smooth, in addition, increased glide-snow avalanche activity will be observed, particularly on sunny slopes. On shady slopes at high altitudes, the persistent weak layer continues to be a threat, most recently in the form of covered surface hoar or faceted crystals beneath melt-freeze crusts. In exposed terrain, e.g. windblown gullies, it is hard and icy: danger of being forced to take a fall.

At high altitudes the hardened, melt-freeze encrusted old snowpack surface has been windblown, in many places covered by a thin, loose layer of snowdrift which is bonded poorly with the old snow. At lower altitudes in forested regions the drifted powder has accumulated. The fresh snow will now be deposited on these snow masses on both days, most often as snowdrifts. They do not bond well with the layers atop of which they are deposited. Crests and ridges will be further windblown, the fresh snow transported to lower lying zones.

Stormy NW winds are supplying moist and instable air masses to the northern flank of the Alps. A front system will reach the Northern Alps and northern Niedere Tauern tonight and provide heavy cloud cover and stormy NW winds until midday. In the summit zones above, about 20 cm of fresh snow is expected. The snowfall level will lie at 1000 m. During the course of the morning clouds will disperse from the west, it will become quite sunny between Dachstein, Totes Gebirge and Ennstal Alps, whereas in the Hochschwab region and eastwards therefrom, it will remain gray. The southern flank of the Alps will have better conditions on leeward slopes, at most a few shower clouds in the morning abover the Tauern and further to the southeast. Temperature at midday at 2000 m: -6 degrees; at 1500 m: -1 degree. On Thursday, an intermediate high will bring quite sunny and milder weather.

Due to higher temperatures, the snowpack will settle and slab avalanche danger will recede. Initially, increased loose-snow avalanche activity.